Hunting for Gravitational Waves with Radio Telescopes

The North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) collaboration is an NSF Physics Frontiers Center that has found evidence for gravitational waves (GWs) likely from merging supermassive black hole binaries. GWs are ripples in spacetime that propagate at the speed of light. Using the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico, and other radio telescopes, NANOGrav observes over 70 pulsars several times a month. Pulsars are rapidly rotating stellar remnants producing pulsed radio emission. The line-of-sight to each pulsar acts as ruler that can measure changes in spacetime of a few kilometers over interstellar distances.

About the Presenter:

Timothy Dolch is Associate Professor of Physics at Hillsdale College. He received his BS from Caltech and his PhD in Physics & Astronomy from the Johns Hopkins University in 2012. Before joining the faculty of Hillsdale College he held postdoctoral positions at Oberlin College and Cornell University both with the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) collaboration. In NANOGrav he co-chairs the Education and Public Outreach Working Group. He is also a research scientist with Eureka Scientific Inc. Primarily a transient radio astronomer, his research focuses on pulsars and using them as tools to detect gravitational waves from merging supermassive black holes.



Admission: $8/adult; $6/child

Photo Credit: Artist's impression a neutron star merger and the gravitational waves it creates. (Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center)

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