Gravitational-wave Research
Lead Research Organisation:
Cardiff University
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
People |
ORCID iD |
| Katherine Dooley (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Abbott B
(2020)
GW190425: Observation of a Compact Binary Coalescence with Total Mass ~ 3.4 M ?
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Abbott B
(2020)
A guide to LIGO-Virgo detector noise and extraction of transient gravitational-wave signals
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Abbott B
(2021)
A Gravitational-wave Measurement of the Hubble Constant Following the Second Observing Run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott R
(2021)
Search for anisotropic gravitational-wave backgrounds using data from Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo's first three observing runs
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2021)
Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts Detected by Fermi and Swift during the LIGO-Virgo Run O3a
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott R
(2022)
Search for intermediate-mass black hole binaries in the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Abbott R
(2020)
GW190814: Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a 23 Solar Mass Black Hole with a 2.6 Solar Mass Compact Object
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Abbott R
(2021)
GWTC-2: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First Half of the Third Observing Run
in Physical Review X
Abbott R
(2020)
GW190412: Observation of a binary-black-hole coalescence with asymmetric masses
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2021)
Population Properties of Compact Objects from the Second LIGO-Virgo Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
| Description | This was a "New Starter" award to help the PI establish her research in the UK upon arriving from the US. The most significant achievement was setting up a new research program in gravitational wave instrumentation at Cardiff University with a strong connection to the LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO). To date, one PhD student and two postdocs have spent significant time at LLO, improving the seismic isolation system and simplifying the optical setup used to bring the interferometers to a 'locked' state. They were able to make such contributions in part due to the training they received at Cardiff in using the software that controls the interferometer. These 'CDS' computers were set up through the support of this grant. |
| Exploitation Route | This work was carried out through the purview of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, comprising over 1000 members at institutions across the globe. The PI and her students and postdocs regularly participate in working group meetings within the collaboration. Our work on the gravitational wave detector instrumentation thus has a clear path to be further pursued in a team effort between ourselves and our close collaborators. The ever-increasing numbers of gravitational wave detections that have been made possible in part by our work have many implications on the understanding of our universe and thus many different fields of physics. |
| Sectors | Education |
| Description | The detection of gravitational waves has continued to inspire the public and the next generation of scientists. This inspiration has been harnessed by high school teachers in NY State (USA) to provide gravitational wave related research projects to their talented students who are enrolled in a "Research Class". I served as a mentor/advisor for the first GW research project offered by Spackenkill HS in Poughkeepsie, NY and the student has since gone on to study physics at university. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | Exploring the Gravitational-wave Universe |
| Amount | £1,859,398 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/V005618/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2021 |
| End | 09/2024 |
| Description | Einstein Telescope |
| Organisation | European Gravitational Observatory |
| Country | Italy |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | I am co-chair of the Einstein Telescope "Low-frequency controls noise" working group within the Active Noise Mitigation division. |
| Collaborator Contribution | My research partners at Vrije Universiteit (Conor Mow-Lowry) and at GSSI (Jan Harms) are the division co-chairs. My research partners at MPI (Sina Koehlenbeck) and at EGO (Paolo Ruggi) are fellow co-chairs of division working groups. |
| Impact | ET-ISB Workshop March 2021 - Summary Document (Virgo TDS#: T-0393B-21) |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Einstein Telescope |
| Organisation | Free University of Amsterdam |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I am co-chair of the Einstein Telescope "Low-frequency controls noise" working group within the Active Noise Mitigation division. |
| Collaborator Contribution | My research partners at Vrije Universiteit (Conor Mow-Lowry) and at GSSI (Jan Harms) are the division co-chairs. My research partners at MPI (Sina Koehlenbeck) and at EGO (Paolo Ruggi) are fellow co-chairs of division working groups. |
| Impact | ET-ISB Workshop March 2021 - Summary Document (Virgo TDS#: T-0393B-21) |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Einstein Telescope |
| Organisation | Gran Sasso Science Institute, L'Aquila, Italy |
| Country | Italy |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I am co-chair of the Einstein Telescope "Low-frequency controls noise" working group within the Active Noise Mitigation division. |
| Collaborator Contribution | My research partners at Vrije Universiteit (Conor Mow-Lowry) and at GSSI (Jan Harms) are the division co-chairs. My research partners at MPI (Sina Koehlenbeck) and at EGO (Paolo Ruggi) are fellow co-chairs of division working groups. |
| Impact | ET-ISB Workshop March 2021 - Summary Document (Virgo TDS#: T-0393B-21) |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Einstein Telescope |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I am co-chair of the Einstein Telescope "Low-frequency controls noise" working group within the Active Noise Mitigation division. |
| Collaborator Contribution | My research partners at Vrije Universiteit (Conor Mow-Lowry) and at GSSI (Jan Harms) are the division co-chairs. My research partners at MPI (Sina Koehlenbeck) and at EGO (Paolo Ruggi) are fellow co-chairs of division working groups. |
| Impact | ET-ISB Workshop March 2021 - Summary Document (Virgo TDS#: T-0393B-21) |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | GW detector seismic isolation improvements |
| Organisation | Free University of Amsterdam |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I launched a campaign of leading the way and emphasising the importance of a major direction of research that had been under-valued and under-investigated. I co-organized a workshop in 2018 with my research partner, Dr. Conor Mow-Lowry, to brainstorm approaches to this problem and others. I am co-author on a paper by his student which addresses one aspect of this research and played the key role of editing and providing feedback on the paper draft. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dr. Mow-Lowry led the development of a new piece of instrumentation and oversaw the writing of a publication by his PhD student. |
| Impact | "Reducing controls noise in gravitational wave detectors with interferometric local damping", in progress. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | BBC World Service interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to give an interview to the BBC World Service Science in Action program. I was the sole interviewee for a 20-min. long broadcast about the most recent upgrades to gravitational wave detectors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct1l3s |
| Description | Colloquium at U. of Central Florida |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Colloquium about the discovery of gravitational waves and the technologies used to detect them. This was the first such talk at UCF and many staff and students were very curious and interested to see how their research might be useful in the field. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Podcast interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | I was interviewed for a Physics World podcast about the latest discoveries (O3 observation run) made by gravitational wave detectors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://physicsworld.com/a/materials-science-conserves-400-year-old-warship-new-gravitational-wave-d... |
| Description | TV documentary interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | I was interviewed for an episode of a TV documentary called "Secrets of the Universe", produced by Bigger Bang TV. The series will be broadcast primarily in the USA and is expected to be released this year (2022). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |