Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos

Gravitational Waves

Gravitational waves are tiny ripples in space created by accelerating masses such as the orbit of neutron stars and black holes. As a gravitational wave passes through space it changes the distance between two points. Researchers at Penn State study gravitational waves theoretically as well as observationally through the LIGO and Virgo observatories.

IGC members who study Gravitational Waves

Name	Role	Affiliation	Office Phone	Office Address	Affiliated Center(s)	Research Topics(s)
Shomik Adhicary	Graduate Student	Physics	+1 814 865 7533	334 Whitmore	IGC	Gravitational Waves, Dark Matter, Multimessenger Astrophysics, Black Holes
Kallan Berglund	Graduate Student	Physics	--	322 Whitmore Lab	CFT	Black Holes, Loop Quantum Gravity, Gravitational Waves
Mukul Bhattacharya	Postdoc	Astronomy, Physics	--	320A Osmond	CMA	Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves, Neutrinos, Cosmic Rays
Maitraya Bhattacharyya	Graduate Student	Physics	+1 814 863 9605	314 Whitmore Laboratory	CMA	Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Arnab Dhani	Graduate Student	Physics	+1 814 865 7533	317 Whitmore Lab	IGC	Gravitational Waves, Black Holes
Pedro Espino	Postdoc	Physics	--	320 Whitmore	IGC	Neutrinos, Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Becca Ewing	Graduate Student	Physics	--	301 Whitmore	CMA, IGC	Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves
Jacob Fields	Graduate Student	Physics	--	321E Whitmore	CMA	Gravitational Waves, Black Holes, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Ish Gupta	Graduate Student	Physics	+1 814 865 7533	317 Whitmore Lab	IGC	Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves, Black Holes
James Gurian	Graduate Student	Astronomy	--	440 Davey Lab	IGC	Dark Matter, Black Holes, Gravitational Waves
Eduardo Gutiérrez	Postdoc	Physics	+1 814 863 9605	301B Whitmore Lab	IGC	Black Holes, Multimessenger Astrophysics, Neutrinos, Gravitational Waves, Cosmic Rays
Peter Hammond	Postdoc	Physics	+1 814 863 9605	307 Whitmore Lab	IGC	Neutrinos, Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Chad Hanna	Faculty	Physics, ICDS, Astronomy	+1 814 865 2924	303 Whitmore	CMA	Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics, Dark Matter, Black Holes
Yun-Jing Huang	Graduate Student	Physics	--	334 Whitmore	IGC	Gravitational Waves
Rachael Huxford	Graduate Student	Physics	--	317 Whitmore	IGC	Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Donghui Jeong	Faculty	Astronomy	+1 814 865 1117	518 Davey Laboratory	CTOC	Gravitational Waves
Prathamesh Joshi	Graduate Student	ICDS, Physics	--	301D Whitmore	IGC	Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Rahul Kashyap	Postdoc	Physics	--	307 Whitmore Laboratory	IGC	Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics
James Kennington	Graduate Student	Physics	+1 814 865 7533	Box 66 Whitemore	CFT	Gravitational Waves
Sanika Samir Khadkikar	Graduate Student	ICDS, Physics	--	321C Whitmore Lab	CMA	Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves
Gooderham McCormick	Graduate Student	Astronomy	+1 814 865 0419	537 Davey Laboratory	IGC	Gravitational Waves
Mainak Mukhopadhyay	Postdoc	Astronomy, Physics	--	320L Osmond Lab	CMA	Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves, Neutrinos
Kohta Murase	Faculty	Physics, Astronomy	+1 814 863 9594	321B Osmond Lab	CMA	Cosmic Rays, Neutrinos, Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves, Dark Matter
Peter Mészáros	Faculty	Physics, Astronomy	814-863-4167	504 Davey Laboratory	CMA	Gravitational Waves, Neutrinos, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Victoria Niu	Graduate Student	Physics	+1 814 865 7533	334 Whitemore Lab	IGC	Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves, Dark Matter, Black Holes
Alexander Pace	Staff	Physics	+1 814 865 6995	334B Whitmore Lab	IGC	Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves
Surendra Padamata	Graduate Student	Physics	--	322 Osmond Laboratory	CMA	Multimessenger Astrophysics, Black Holes, Cosmic Rays, Gravitational Waves, Neutrinos
Cort Posnansky	Graduate Student	Physics	+1 814 863 9605	334 Whitmore	CMA	Black Holes, Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves
Aviral Prakash	Graduate Student	ICDS, Physics, Astronomy	--	317 Whitmore Laboratory	CMA	Gravitational Waves, Neutrinos, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Yi Qiu	Graduate Student	Physics	8142328268	114 Osmond Lab	IGC	Gravitational Waves
David Radice	Faculty	Astronomy, Physics	+1 814 865 7533	304 Whitmore	CMA	Black Holes, Neutrinos, Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves
Samuele Ronchini	Postdoc	Astronomy	8148657705	- IV Building	CMA, IGC	Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves
Shio Sakon	Graduate Student	ICDS, Physics	--	301D Whitmore Laboratory	IGC	Gravitational Waves, Black Holes, Multimessenger Astrophysics
B.S. Sathyaprakash	Faculty	Physics, Astronomy	--	312 Whitmore	CMA, CTOC	Gravitational Waves, Dark Matter, Black Holes, Multimessenger Astrophysics
Divya Singh	Graduate Student	Physics	--	301 Whitmore Lab	IGC	Black Holes, Dark Matter, Gravitational Waves
Leo Tsukada	Faculty	Physics	+1 814 863 9605	301A Whitmore	IGC	Gravitational Waves
V. Ashley Villar	Faculty	Astronomy, ICDS	--	517 Davey Lab	CTOC	Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves

News about Gravitational Waves

Upcoming International Seminar on Gravitational Waves!

2022-03-01

Interested in how scientists collaborate across borders? Or how STEM projects are operated on an international scale?

Then check out the upcoming “Crossing Borders to Map Our Universe” seminar this March 21.

Anyone can join through Zoom here: https://psu.zoom.us/j/92182953190?pwd=d1Z6QmlReWQ5SUdWanJvWllDbDZ4UT09

Click here for the full article.

Two probable black-hole mergers spotted in first weeks after gravitational-wave detector is updated

2019-06-16

Two new probable gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of spacetime caused by cataclysmic cosmic events and first predicted by Albert Einstein over 100 years ago — have been detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Virgo observatory in Italy in the first weeks after the detectors were updated. The IGC team of LIGO scientists, led by Chad Hanna, played a critical role.

Click here for the full article.

Black Holes, Dark Matter & Quantum Gravity, what’s new in Loop Quantum Gravity

2019-06-01

Are black holes related to dark matter? Do the observations of black holes by LIGO hint at a signature of quantum gravity ? Can we find evidence of black holes from a previous universe? In 2019 second place in the Buchalter Cosmology Prize was awarded to two of the speakers you will see in this film which explores some of the above themes. We filmed this at the Loop Quantum Gravity Conference in 2019 and plan to make a follow up film exploring the latest ideas in the field. Look out for the optical illusion around 8:12–8:25. YouTube Video prepared by Monica and Phil Halper. Filmed during Loops19 conference.

Click here for the full article.