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Catch a gravitational wave at Director's Colloquium Thursday

How energy warps space-time and causes distortion of gravitational waves is the subject of a Director's Colloquium at 1:10 p.m., Thursday, in the Physics Building Auditorium at Technical Area 3.

Barry Barish, a leader in the field of elementary particle physics, will present the lecture. He currently leads a national team of scientists and engineers who are working to build facilities for the detection of gravitational waves throughout the universe.

Gravitational waves, sometimes referred to as "ripples in the curvature of space-time," are often produced by black holes or exploding stars, according to the University of Southhampton Highfield in England.

With the construction of these facilities nearly completed, initial searches for gravitational waves have begun. Barish will discuss early data and prospects for improving the detection facilities, located in Hanford, Wash., and Livingston, La.

Barish earned a bachelor's degree in physics at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1957 and a doctoral degree in high-energy physics from UC Berkeley in 1963.

The program is open to badge holders only and will be broadcast live on LABNET Channel 9. It also can be viewed on desktop computers using Real Media Live software.

For more information, contact technical host Rajan Gupta in Elementary Particles and Field Thoery (T-8) at 7-7664 or write to rg@lanl.gov by electronic mail.

Additional information on Director's Colloquiums can be obtained at http://stb.lanl.gov/program/colloquium.shtml online.

-- Michael Carlson

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