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Chad Hanna

Chad Hanna — Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy & Astrophysics — Faculty
Office: 303 Whitmore Laboratory
Address: 104 Davey Lab #253 University Park, PA 16802
+1 814 865 2924
Chad Hanna

I am a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy & Astrophysics, a co-hire of the Institute for Computational and Data Science
(ICDS), and a member of the Institute for
Gravitation and the Cosmos (IGC). I have been a faculty member of Penn
State since 2014.

I am a member of the Compact Binary Coalescence group in LIGO which comprises over 200 scientists from across the world working together to use
gravitational waves as a tool to explore fundamental physics and as a mechanism for astronomical discovery. I previously served as co-chair of the Compact Binary Coalescence group and the Computing and Software working group in LIGO.

My primary research focuses on the detection and characterization of
gravitational waves from merging neutron stars an black holes with the LIGO
Scientific Collaboration, which I have done since 2003. My group leads efforts
to detect gravitational waves in real-time to support multi-messenger
astrophysics. We are also exploring potential connections between black holes
detected by LIGO and dark matter. My other academic interests include
improving researchers' access to computational methods and infrastructure in
order to hasten discoveries across a variety of fields.

Visit my website

ORCID: 0000-0002-0965-7493

Publications
  1. R Abbott, TD Abbott, S Abraham, F Acernese, K Ackley, A Adams, C Adams, RX Adhikari, VB Adya, C Affeldt, others “GWTC-2: compact binary coalescences observed by LIGO and Virgo during the first half of the third observing run.” Physical Review X 11 2 (2021)
  2. BP Abbott, R Abbott, TD Abbott, S Abraham, F Acernese, K Ackley, C Adams, RX Adhikari, VB Adya, C Affeldt, others “GW190425: Observation of a compact binary coalescence with total mass 3.4 M⊙.” The Astrophysical Journal Letters 892 1 (2020)
  3. Richard Abbott, TD Abbott, S Abraham, F Acernese, K Ackley, C Adams, RX Adhikari, VB Adya, C Affeldt, M Agathos, others “GW190814: Gravitational waves from the coalescence of a 23 solar mass black hole with a 2.6 solar mass compact object.” The Astrophysical Journal Letters 896 2 (2020)
  4. BP Abbott, Richard Abbott, TDea Abbott, S Abraham, F Acernese, K Ackley, C Adams, RX Adhikari, VB Adya, Christoph Affeldt, others “GWTC-1: a gravitational-wave transient catalog of compact binary mergers observed by LIGO and Virgo during the first and second observing runs.” Physical Review X 9 3 (2019)
  5. Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, TD Abbott, F Acernese, K Ackley, C Adams, T Adams, P Addesso, Rana Adhikari, VB Adya, others “GW170814: a three-detector observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole coalescence.” Physical review letters 119 14 (2017)
  6. Benjamin Abbott, Rich Abbott, TD Abbott, Fausto Acernese, Kendall Ackley, Carl Adams, Thomas Adams, Paolo Addesso, RX Adhikari, VB Adya, others “GW170817: observation of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star inspiral.” Physical review letters 119 16 (2017)
  7. Benjamin Abbott, S Bloemen, P Canizares, H Falcke, RP Fender, S Ghosh, P Groot, T Hinderer, JR Hörandel, PG Jonker, others “Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger.” (2017)
  8. Benjamin Abbott, R Abbott, TD Abbott, MR Abernathy, F Acernese, K Ackley, C Adams, T Adams, P Addesso, RX Adhikari, others “Binary black hole mergers in the first advanced LIGO observing run.” Physical Review X 6 4 (2016)
  9. Benjamin Abbott, R Abbott, TD Abbott, MR Abernathy, F Acernese, K Ackley, C Adams, T Adams, P Addesso, RX Adhikari, others “GW151226: observation of gravitational waves from a 22-solar-mass binary black hole coalescence.” Physical review letters 116 24 (2016)
  10. Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, TD Abbott, MR Abernathy, Fausto Acernese, Kendall Ackley, Carl Adams, Thomas Adams, Paolo Addesso, RX Adhikari, others “Observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger.” Physical review letters 116 6 (2016)

Chad Hanna's research group


IGC members directory
Photo Name Role Affiliations Email Phone Office Centers Research topics
Shomik Adhicary Shomik Adhicary Graduate Student Physics sva5823@psu.edu +1 814 865 7533 334 Whitmore Laboratory IGC Black Holes, Dark Matter, Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Joshua Gonsalves Joshua Gonsalves Undergraduate Student ICDS, Physics jpg6184@psu.edu 4847877738 334 Whitmore Laboratory IGC Gravitational Waves
Yun-Jing Huang Yun-Jing Huang Graduate Student Physics yzh5436@psu.edu 334 Whitmore Laboratory IGC Gravitational Waves
James Kennington James Kennington Graduate Student Physics jwkennington@psu.edu +1 814 865 7533 Box 66 Whitmore Laboratory CFT Black Holes, Dark Matter, Gravitational Waves, Mathematical Structures
Sophia Nicolella Sophia Nicolella Graduate Student Physics scn5270@psu.edu - 114 Osmond Laboratory IGC Gravitational Waves
Victoria Niu Victoria Niu Graduate Student Physics wmn5062@psu.edu +1 814 865 7533 334 Whitmore Laboratory IGC Black Holes, Dark Matter, Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Alexander Pace Alexander Pace Staff Physics aep14@psu.edu +1 814 865 6995 334B Whitmore Laboratory IGC Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Cort Posnansky Cort Posnansky Graduate Student Physics clp5773@psu.edu +1 814 863 9605 334 Whitmore Laboratory CMA Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Shio Sakon Shio Sakon Graduate Student ICDS, Physics sks6461@psu.edu 321 F Whitmore Laboratory IGC Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics

Chad Hanna's former group members


IGC members directory
Photo Name Role Affiliations Email Phone Office Centers Research topics
Sydney Chamberlin Sydney Chamberlin Postdoc Physics smc6287@psu.edu CMA Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Bryce Cousins Bryce Cousins Staff ICDS, Physics bfc5288@psu.edu +1 814 863 9605 301 Whitmore Laboratory IGC Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Becca Ewing Becca Ewing Faculty Physics ree55@psu.edu 301 Whitmore Laboratory CMA, IGC Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Daniel George Daniel George Undergraduate Student Physics dyg5236@psu.edu CMA Black Holes, Gravitational Waves
Patrick Godwin Patrick Godwin Staff Physics patrick.godwin@ligo.org CMA Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Anuradha Gupta Anuradha Gupta Postdoc Physics axg645@psu.edu CMA Black Holes, Gravitational Waves
Collin Heckman Collin Heckman Graduate Student Astronomy cmh424@psu.edu CMA Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Rachael Huxford Rachael Huxford Faculty Physics reh255@psu.edu 317 Whitmore Laboratory IGC Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Prathamesh Joshi Prathamesh Joshi Graduate Student ICDS, Physics ppj5075@psu.edu - 301D Whitmore Laboratory IGC Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Ryan Magee Ryan Magee Graduate Student Physics rzm50@psu.edu CMA Black Holes, Dark Matter, Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Phoebe McClincy Phoebe McClincy Graduate Student Astronomy pkm5220@psu.edu CMA Dark Matter, Gravitational Waves
Cody Messick Cody Messick Graduate Student Physics ccm188@psu.edu CMA Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Debnandini Mukherjee Debnandini Mukherjee Postdoc Physics Debnandini.Mukherjee@ligo.org CMA Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Surabhi Sachdev Surabhi Sachdev Postdoc Physics szs1416@psu.edu CMA Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Divya Singh Divya Singh Faculty Physics dus960@psu.edu 301 Whitmore Laboratory IGC Black Holes, Dark Matter, Gravitational Waves
Javed Rana Sk Javed Rana Sk Postdoc Physics javed.sk@ligo.org CMA Multimessenger Astrophysics
Leo Tsukada Leo Tsukada Faculty Physics lqt5311@psu.edu +1 814 863 9605 301A Whitmore Laboratory IGC Gravitational Waves

News mentioning Chad Hanna


About our wordmark
Monica Rincon Ramirez

The IGC wordmark was created by Monica Rincon Ramirez while she was a graduate student at the Institute. Monica enjoys drawing new connections between fundamental theory and observations. Her graduate work included general relativity, loop quantum gravity, and quantum fields in cosmological backgrounds; her thesis focused on effective quantum corrections to gravitational phenomena from spinfoams and applications to cosmology. She received her PhD in 2024.

The wordmark symbolizes the scope of research at the IGC. The base represents quantum gravity, evoking the quantum geometrical picture from spinfoams and loop quantum gravity — approaches studied at the Center for Fundamental Theory. The middle shows galaxies embedded in a smooth surface characteristic of spacetime in general relativity and the larger physical scales studied at the Center for Theoretical and Observational Cosmology. The top curves to an extreme representing a supermassive black hole accompanied by an energetic jet, with a binary black hole pair nearby — the high-energy phenomena studied at the Center for Multimessenger Astrophysics.