The LISA Pathfinder mission: learning to listen to the universe using the waves Einstein predicted

It was exactly a century ago that Einstein published his theory of General Relativity, in which he explained the movement of the perihelion of Mercury and made a series of predictions, including the one that brought him world acclaim, concerning the light-bending properties of massive bodies. All these predictions were later confirmed experimentally, except for one: the existence of gravitational waves. The reason these waves have not yet been detected, in spite of the widespread indirect evidence of their existence, is that gravity is the weakest of all the forces we know of. Such was the difficulty involved, that it was not until the 1960s that work even began on developing the technology required to detect gravity. Now we have several second-generation Earth-based detectors with which scientists hope to be able to detect gravity, for the first time ever, before the end of this decade. Meanwhile, the European Space Agency (ESA) will be devoting its third large-scale mission (eLISA) to a space observatory for gravitational waves that will carry out an ambitious scientific programme – the detection of gravitational waves produced by collisions between supermassive black holes, ultra-compact binary systems in our galaxy and echoes from the dawn of the universe. Using these observations, scientists hope to make revolutionary discoveries in the fields of astrophysics, cosmology, and basic physics. LISA Pathfinder is a pioneering ESA mission that was launched last 3^rd December, and which, during the course of 2016 will carry out a series of experiments to demonstrate that the technology for eLISA is ready. In this lecture, the speaker will present the LISA Pathfinder mission, its status and the major contribution that has been made by the Institute of Space Science in collaboration with local industry. The lecture will also include a description of the past, present and future of the new astronomy based on gravitational wave detection.

To see real-time conference click here:

http://www.streamingbarcelona.com/plataforma/residenciainvestigadors/

Cycle: SCIENCE ON MONDAY: The Universe as seen by satellites

Organized by: Residence for Researchers, the Institute of Space Science of CSIC (ICE-CSIC), the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), CSIC Delegation in Catalonia