Rana Adhikari - Listening to the Thunder of Gravity in the Cosmos

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In 1916, Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves—vibrations of spacetime produced by the most cataclysmic events in the universe that travel at the speed of light. Yet for several decades, it was believed that these waves either did not exist or were too weak to detect. Over the past 45 years, scientists have been developing ever-more-sensitive detectors capable of measuring these spacetime distortions from as far away as hundreds of millions of light years. On September 14th, the universe spoke to us for the first time through the spacetime vibrations of a pair of massive black holes from a billion years ago.

In this talk, Adhikari will describe how our understanding of the quantum physics of the very, very small has allowed us to explore gravitational physics of the very, very large. The window onto the dark side of the universe is now open.

Rana Adhikari is a professor of physics at Caltech.

This is a free event; no tickets or reservations are required.

Reserved section tickets are available to members of the Friends of Beckman Auditorium and the Caltech Associates.

Presented by: Caltech Committee on Institute Programs