The era of multi-messenger astronomy is upon us. In the last few years, the LIGO observatories in Hanford, WA, and Livingston, LA have made it possible to witness cacophonous mergers of black holes and neutron stars, then call out to other telescopes around the world and in deep space, all in nearly real-time. But how can we tell so quickly what is happening out in the cosmos, just by staring at some convoluted data? The answer, surprisingly, can be understood through audio engineering — and the power of music. In this seminar we will explore connections between merging black holes and the physics of artful sound, examining what the pitch, timbre, intensity, and tempo of musical instruments can teach us about how to interpret this brand-new field of gravitational wave astronomy.
Join us for this presentation by Dr. Alex Urban on Wednesday, 6 November 2019 @ 12:30 pm in Carr 122
Pizza and drinks @12:15 pm courtesy of the William Beazell Memorial Fund