Center for Gravitational Wave Physics

This award supports the formation of The Center for Gravitational Wave

Physics. This Physics Frontier Center is devoted to development of

gravitational wave phenomenology: the physics and astrophysics that can

be explored by gravitational wave observations in all wavebands. It is

organized in three tightly-linked Major Research Components: i)

learning how to exploit the fundamentally new perspective that gravitational

waves offer, when compared to electromagnetic observations; ii) using

gravitational wave observations to test and contribute to the

understanding of strong-field, dynamical gravity; and iii) developing

modeling tools that combine detector and source science to provide

quantitative assessments of the ``science reach'' of advanced detector

designs. To achieve its goal of crystalizing the formation of this new

field, the Center functions as a National Facility with a substantial

visitor program; workshops, conferences and institutes devoted to

critical research areas where the focused attention of experts can be

expected to lead to breakthroughs or rapid advancements; and a

substantial, interactive interface to Center activities (seminar,

colloquia, workshops and research group meetings) for off-site Center

members and program participants. The Center's education program

emphasizes middle school children nationwide, through an affiliation

with the educational public television program 'What's In The News?'.

Three special programs form the core of its outreach program: to

women, through its participation in the Women In Science and

Engineering 'Expanding Your Horizons' workshop (focused on grades 7--9)

and the Women In Science and Engineering Research mentoring program

(focused on first and second year undergraduate women), and to upper

division and graduate Hispanic students, through a special liaison with

the University of Texas, Brownsville.

The forthcoming generation of ground and space-based gravitational wave

detectors have unleashed exciting challenges and opportunities at the

interface of general relativity, astrophysics, and experimental

physics. The waves they will detect arise in strong, dynamical

gravitational fields, offering the first opportunities to test the

understanding of fully non-linear relativistic gravity.

Simultaneously, the observations' astrophysical implications are likely

to be novel, diverse and rich as they reveal the inner dynamics of

processes hidden from electromagnetic astronomy: e.g., the collision of

black holes in the center of a galaxy at high redshift. A new field of

physics --- gravitational wave phenomenology --- is thus poised to

emerge; however, lacking a tradition of large experiments,

gravitational physics lacks also a community of phenomenologists ready

to fully exploit the rich physics that the forthcoming observations

offer. The Center for Gravitational Wave Physics provides the

intellectual platform upon which existing expertise can be combined and

focused in a synergistic manner, crystallizing the formation of a

coherent, flourishing field that can fully realize the promise that

gravitational wave observations hold.