Physics colloquium-“Pulsar Timing Arrays CHIME in on Gravitational Waves”

Deborah Good

University of Connecticut, Department of Physics

Abstract: LIGO’s direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015 inaugurated an exciting new era in astronomy, one where we observe the universe with gravitational radiation as well as electromagnetic radiation. Now, pulsar timing arrays are poised to open a new segment of the gravitational spectrum by searching for gravitational waves from supermassive black holes. In this talk, I’ll introduce pulsar timing astronomy, discuss the current status of our gravitational wave searches, and provide a peek into the future of pulsar observation for PTA searches.

Bio: Dr. Deborah Good is a postdoctoral research at the University of Connecticut and the Flatiron Institute Center for Computational Astrophysics. She is currently focusing on creating the third combined International Pulsar Timing Array dataset, to be used to search for low-frequency gravitational waves. She earned her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in from University of British Columbia, where she focused on pulsar and radio transient observations with CHIME. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics from the Colorado School of Mines. At CSM, she was a PHGN 100 teaching assistant, an editor of The Oredigger newspaper, a member of the McBride Honors Program, and a founding officer of the organization that is now SWiP. She is passionate about radio telescopes and the idea that physics and astronomy is for everyone.

Unless otherwise specified, all colloquium will be held in CoorsTek 140/150.