在过去的十年里，观测天文学发生了一场革命 Laser Interferometer Gravitational-波 Observatory (LIGO). LIGO科学合作组织有来自北美和美国的一千多名成员, together with the European Virgo and Japanese KAGRA collaborations, operates four gravitational wave detectors across the globe. 直到2015年, information from space came overwhelmingly from measuring different light waves, 自400多年前伽利略首次将自制望远镜指向天空以来，天文学家就一直在使用这种观测方法. 9月. 14, 2015, LIGO合作项目的两个探测器首次观测到了引力波——由黑洞合并产生的空间涟漪.
Stefan Ballmer, associate 教授 物理
By using lasers to precisely measure the travel time of light over large distances, LIGO has been able to directly detect gravitational waves warping space. 从历史上看, 从那以后，用望远镜直接观测黑洞对天文学家来说一直是一个挑战, 不像明星, 黑洞不产生光. 然而, 通过观察黑洞如何扭曲空间, 天文学家现在可以揭开隐藏这些天体的面纱，开始绘制宇宙中黑洞的数量图. “如果你在做一些新的事情, 一个新的波长, or a completely new way of observing the universe, 会有惊喜的,斯蒂芬·鲍尔默说。, 教授 物理 在雪城大学 文理学院. “In fact, there were surprises from the very first source of gravitational waves.”
In the years since the first detection of gravitational waves, LIGO has observed over 40 binary black hole mergers and two binary neutron star mergers. 中子星是一种密度极高的普通恒星的残骸，是由具有一定质量的恒星在超新星爆炸中形成的. 2017年，LIGO和Virgo通过引力波探测到两颗中子星的碰撞. 这一观测结果使天文学家能够将望远镜对准碰撞，并在所有波长的光中探测碰撞的后果, 从伽马射线到无线电波. 因此, 该事件通过不同的光和引力波使者到达探测器和望远镜. The era of multi-messenger astronomy has begun, 物理系的学生和教师都站在这个新兴领域的前沿.
这张图显示了通过电磁观测探测到的黑洞质量(紫色), black holes measured by gravitational-wave observations (blue), neutron stars measured with electromagnetic observations (yellow), and neutron stars detected through gravitational waves (orange). [图片来源:LIGO-Virgo/Northwestern U./弗兰克Elavsky & 亚伦盖勒)
师徒成长
When massive stars go supernova at the end of their life, the core of the star collapses upon itself and creates a black hole, a gravity pit so strong that not even light can escape. 其中一些黑洞以双星的形式形成——两个黑洞相互绕转——最终合并成一个更大的黑洞. 人们曾经认为，在宇宙的生命周期内，黑洞不可能成为多次合并的一部分. 现在, thanks to one recent LIGO discovery, we know that to be untrue.
5月21日, 2019, LIGO观测到了它最大的事件:两个比太阳大很多倍的黑洞合并. 合并产生的单个黑洞是LIGO观测到的最大的黑洞. 不仅仅是一个尺寸记录, 两个初始黑洞的巨大质量暗示它们是通过先前的黑洞合并产生的, challenging the previously held theories of many in the astro物理 community.
劳雷尔·怀特在霍尔顿天文台报道
月桂白 ’21 was an undergraduate when LIGO made its 2019 discovery. As a freshman with just a few 物理 classes under her belt, 她联系了彼得·索尔森, the Martin Pomerantz Professor Emeritus of Physics, after reading about his research on detector characterization. 怀特和索尔森一样，对解决一个价值10亿美元的探测器所带来的问题感兴趣，这个探测器可以测量距离变化，小到质子宽度的几千倍. An email turned into a meeting, which turned into a full-fledged partnership.
怀特和索尔森，以及博士.D. 学生Derek Davis G ' 19, 创建了一个系统，通过这个系统，他们可以表征并消除探测器的故障. She learned the important skills it takes to be a good researcher—documenting her work, 识别重要问题, developing plans to answer those questions and communicating her work. “I was working with Professor Saulson and Derek when I published for the first time. 索尔森教授认为，我的工作对LIGO的贡献非常大，足以被授予合作论文的作者身份, 他主张把我包括在内,怀特回忆道.
我的导师教导我，即使面对挫折，也要对自己的物理能力充满信心.
月桂白
Duncan Brown, the Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics
White eventually wrote her senior thesis with Duncan Brown, 查尔斯·布莱曼物理学教授和该校研究副校长, focusing on signals released by merging neutron stars. His support was pivotal in her future career plans. 在一个困难的项目上碰壁之后, 怀特变得灰心丧气，不知道自己是否应该找份工作，而不是读研. 布朗说服了她. “我的导师告诉我，即使面对挫折，也要对自己的物理能力充满信心,怀特说。, 谁, 今天, is a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (麻省理工学院).
教授未来的技能
澳门线上赌场的教职员工和学生从引力波天文学领域的国际合作中受益匪浅. When a LIGO graduate student faces a problem, they have not only the knowledge of their advisor to help them, but also the wealth of knowledge held by their colleagues around the world. “It is literally a global core of scientists, 而且你几乎可以随时通知任何可能知道某个问题的人,鲍尔默说。, 他还指导学校的新 Center for Gravitational 波 Astronomy and Astro物理.
费边杰罗姆翻译 G ' 18获得博士学位.D. working with Ballmer through research on optical improvements to the LIGO detectors. 在来锡拉丘兹之前, he was connected through a LIGO colleague of Ballmer’s at his undergraduate college, 加州州立大学, 富勒顿(CSUF).
My favorite part of being in the LIGO collaboration at Syracuse was the ability to talk, work and collaborate with a group that spanned the 谁le LIGO continuum.
费边杰罗姆翻译
宇宙探险家, the next-generation, gravitational-wave observatory.
在锡拉丘兹，Magaña获得了成为一名成功的实验家所需的所有技能. 每当他遇到障碍时，鲍尔默都会通过一对一的实验室工作和理论讨论来提供帮助. Magaña is grateful for the researchers he was able to work with at Syracuse. 我回头看, 我可以说，在锡拉丘兹的LIGO合作中，我最喜欢的部分是能够说话, work and collaborate with a group that spanned the 谁le LIGO continuum,他说.
当Magaña计划他的职业生涯时, Ballmer connected him with a LIGO group doing similar work at the University of Florida, where he went on to pursue a postdoctoral research position. 今天, Magaña works at Edison Energy in Southern California, researching ways to make the energy grid carbon neutral by 2045.
在研究, modeling and developing optical sensors and actuators, Magaña designed an optical device that would improve the alignment of the detector. Magaña在锡拉丘兹的工作成果是对LIGO探测器进行了廉价且无创的升级. 直到今天, 他的升级使探测器更加灵敏，能够看到更远的宇宙. Magaña也拥有他的发明专利.
One discovery that Magaña’s upgrade contributed to came on Aug. 14, 2019, when the LIGO detectors picked up another merger signal. This time one of the objects involved was extremely light—just 2.比太阳重6倍.
This compact object could be a black hole or neutron star, 因为LIGO的科学家没有足够的数据来最终确定哪个标签是正确的. 如果它是一个黑洞, it would be the lightest black hole ever observed, 打破了目前3次的纪录.质量是太阳的8倍. 相反, 如果它是中子星, it would be the heaviest neutron star ever observed, 勉强超过目前的记录2.质量是太阳的5倍. 从这样的事件中获得的数据可能是理解中子星何时变得太大而坍塌而无法形成黑洞的关键.
布朗和鲍尔默, together with new faculty members Georgia Mansell, 克雷格·卡希兰和亚历山大·尼茨, 也在开发下一代吗, 称为引力波天文台 宇宙探险家. Billed as the United States’ contribution to a global, 地面观测网, 宇宙探索者号利用量子光学和精密测量方面的突破，揭开了宇宙中密度最大物质的秘密.
Ballmer was part of a team of researchers from Syracuse, 麻省理工学院, 宾夕法尼亚州立大学, 加州州立大学 and CSUF that came up with the idea. “宇宙探索者号将使我们能够研究宇宙中第一批恒星残骸的碰撞,他说, adding that the federally funded project plans to be operational in the 2030s. “We’re at the edge of a new age of discovery, where we’ll be able to explore the entire universe with gravitational waves.”
的更多信息 澳门线上赌场引力波天文学和天体物理学中心开幕仪式.