Gravitational radiation, or ripples in the curvature of space-time, are predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Their existence has been confirmed by observing the energy loss of the ‘binary pulsar’ due to gravitational wave emission. Hulse and Taylor won a Nobel Prize in 1993 for this work. Today, the direct detection of gravitational radiation remains a major goal of fundamental physics. Observation of gravitational waves will allow rigorous examination of one of Einstein’s theories, previously untested in the nonlinear, strong gravity limit. The effort to detect gravitational waves is therefore one of the frontier physics projects.

Direct detection will allow a new way of sensing the universe – akin to using our sense of hearing for the first time. Information obtained will be complementary to electromagnetic observations, revealing processes which occur in the very core of cataclysmic astrophysical events and at the earliest moments of the Big Bang. New events will be recorded igniting a revolution in astronomy comparable with the advent of radio astronomy.

For an introduction to gravitational waves and their detection try:

The Global Picture:

Currently there are 4 funded mid to long baseline interferometer projects: the US LIGO Project; the French/Italian VIRGO Project; GEO600, the German/British collaboration) and TAMA300, under construction in Japan.

The Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy (ACIGA) was funded in 1995 to develop technology for gravitational wave detection. It is a primarily a collaboration between 3 universities – The Australian National University (ANU), The University of Western Australia (UWA) and The University of Adelaide (UA) See:

For information on my research program and how to join us, see: