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Gravitational Physics Exploring the Structure of Space and Time

The Committee on Gravitational Physics (CGP) was organized by the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Board on Physics and Astronomy (BPA) as part of the decadal survey Physics in a New Era. The committee’s main charges were (1) to assess the achievements in gravitational physics over the last decade and (2) to identify the most promising opportunities for research in the next decade and describe the resources necessary to realize those opportunities. This report fulfills those charges. | Gravitational physics Exploring the Structure of Space and Time Committee on Gravitational Physics Board on Physics and Astronomy Commission on Physical Sciences Mathematics and Applications National Research Council NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington D.C. NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This project was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NAG5-4120 the Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-FG02-97ER41051 and the National Science Foundation under Grant No. PHY-9722102. Any opinions findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsors. Front cover Gravitational waves are ripples in the curvature of space and time that propagate with the speed of light through otherwise empty space. Mass in motion is the source of gravitational waves. The figure shows the predicted gravitational wave pattern from a pair of neutron stars or black holes spiraling inward toward a final merger. The figure shows one polarization of the waves as seen by observers stationed throughout the plane of the orbit at the moment of final merger. The waves measured far away were emitted during the earlier steady inspiral of the objects about one another while the peak at the center comes from the final merger. The reception of gravitational waves in the next decade would not only confirm one of the most basic predictions of Einstein s general relativity but also provide a new window on the universe. Courtesy of Patrick R. Brady Institute for Theoretical Physics University of California