演講資訊

摘要：

Mainly a review the development of the theoretical ideas and the disputes, beginning with Einstein in 1916, regarding the existence and nature of gravitational waves, the extent to which one can rely on the electromagnetic analogy, and the controversies regarding the quadrupole formula and whether gravitational waves carry energy. The theoretical conclusions eventually received observational support from the binary pulsar. This provided strong indirect evidence for gravitational waves carrying away energy--as predicted by the quadrupole formula. Experiments aimed at direct observation were started by Joseph Weber more than fifty years ago. His work stimulated many efforts, from room temperature resonant masses to cryogenic detectors and laser interferometers. Now there are km-sized interferometric detectors. During their first observation run in 2015, with the aid of templates generated by numerical relativity, LIGO made the first detections: two events and one likely event. Based on work with C.-M Chen and W.-T Ni, published in Chinese J. Phys. 55 (2017) 142; arXiv: 1610:08803