Special Colloquium: The NANOGrav Experiment: Current Results and Future Directions

Event Date:
2024-12-10T16:00:00
2024-12-10T17:00:00
Event Location:
HENN 201
Speaker:
Chiara Mingarelli, Yale University
Related Upcoming Events:
Department Colloquia
Intended Audience:
Everyone
Local Contact:

Phillip Stamp (stamp@phas.ubc.ca)

Join us for this special colloquium with Dr. Chiara Mingarelli - All are welcome!

Event Information:

Abstract:

Galaxy mergers are a standard aspect of galaxy formation and evolution, and most large galaxies contain supermassive black holes. As part of the merging process, the supermassive black holes should in-spiral together and eventually merge, generating a background of gravitational radiation in the nanohertz to microhertz regime.  An array of precisely timed pulsars spread across the sky can form a galactic-scale gravitational wave detector in the nanohertz band. I describe the current efforts to develop and extend the pulsar timing array concept, together with recent evidence for a gravitational wave background, and efforts to constrain astrophysical phenomena at the heart of supermassive black hole mergers.
 

Bio:

Dr. Chiara Mingarelli is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Yale University and a prominent researcher in the field of gravitational wave astrophysics. Her work focuses on using pulsar timing arrays to detect nanohertz-frequency gravitational waves, particularly those generated by supermassive black hole binaries. She has held key leadership roles, including serving on NASA's Physics of the Cosmos Executive Committee and co-chairing the Gravitational Wave Science Interest Group. Dr. Mingarelli is also a Full Member of the NANOGrav collaboration, contributing to the discovery of the gravitational wave background. An advocate for diversity in science, she previously served as the Ada Lovelace Director of Diversity at the Flatiron Institute. Dr. Mingarelli has been widely recognized for her contributions, with over 100 refereed papers with 16,000 citations, and numerous grants from NASA and the National Science Foundation.

 

Learn More:

 

Links:

Add to Calendar 2024-12-10T16:00:00 2024-12-10T17:00:00 Special Colloquium: The NANOGrav Experiment: Current Results and Future Directions Event Information: Abstract: Galaxy mergers are a standard aspect of galaxy formation and evolution, and most large galaxies contain supermassive black holes. As part of the merging process, the supermassive black holes should in-spiral together and eventually merge, generating a background of gravitational radiation in the nanohertz to microhertz regime.  An array of precisely timed pulsars spread across the sky can form a galactic-scale gravitational wave detector in the nanohertz band. I describe the current efforts to develop and extend the pulsar timing array concept, together with recent evidence for a gravitational wave background, and efforts to constrain astrophysical phenomena at the heart of supermassive black hole mergers.  Bio: Dr. Chiara Mingarelli is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Yale University and a prominent researcher in the field of gravitational wave astrophysics. Her work focuses on using pulsar timing arrays to detect nanohertz-frequency gravitational waves, particularly those generated by supermassive black hole binaries. She has held key leadership roles, including serving on NASA's Physics of the Cosmos Executive Committee and co-chairing the Gravitational Wave Science Interest Group. Dr. Mingarelli is also a Full Member of the NANOGrav collaboration, contributing to the discovery of the gravitational wave background. An advocate for diversity in science, she previously served as the Ada Lovelace Director of Diversity at the Flatiron Institute. Dr. Mingarelli has been widely recognized for her contributions, with over 100 refereed papers with 16,000 citations, and numerous grants from NASA and the National Science Foundation.   Learn More: See Chiara's personal website here: https://www.chiaramingarelli.com/  Read her guest blog for Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/guest-blog/searching-for-the-gravitational-waves-ligo-can-t-hear/  View her Yale faculty page: https://astronomy.yale.edu/people/chiara-mingarelli Watch her videos: Frontiers of pulsar timing array experiments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDdxcS0HeeU  Unlocking the Universe: Chiara Mingarelli on Pulsar Timing Arrays & Gravitational Waves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn--gIGKmJw  79 - NanoGRAV's Big Gravitational Wave Discovery (Ft. Chiara Mingarelli) | Why This Universe Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__otsacCqhY    Links: NANOGrav Collaboration: https://nanograv.org/collaboration/overview  Pulsar Timing Array Group: https://perimeterinstitute.ca/news/international-group-pulsar-timing-arrays-announce-gravitational-wave-detection  What are gravitational waves? https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-are-gw  Flatiron Institute: https://flatironschool.com/blog/flatiron-school-relaunches-lovelace-and-ford-fellowships/  NASA's Physics of the Cosmos group: https://pcos.gsfc.nasa.gov/  Event Location: HENN 201