Bill Steigerwald
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-5017
William.A.Steigerwald@nasa.gov

April 24, 2003

College Park, Md. -- Scientists searching for gravitational waves, an elusive form of radiation predicted by Albert Einstein, will gather at a three-day meeting entitled "The Astrophysics of Gravitational Wave Sources," at the University of Maryland, College Park, beginning today and continuing through Saturday, April 26, 2003.

The meeting will blend recent observations of black holes and other potential sources of gravitational waves with theoretical predictions, new computer modeling, and proposed gravitational wave detectors. The meeting is sponsored by NASA, the National Science Foundation and Penn State, and is organized by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

According to Einstein's theory of general relativity, gravitational waves are ripplesin the four-dimensional fabric of space-time created by massive objects in motion or undergoing an extreme event. The waves hardly interact with matter, however, altering the distance of objects as far apart as the Earth and the Moon by less than the width of an atom.

While scientists have yet to directly detect gravitational waves, Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics for indirect detection of gravitational waves from two pulsars in a close orbit. A new generation of detectors and fervent interest among scientists may lead to direct detection in the coming years.

Featured presentations at the April gravitational wave meeting include:

• First results from Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), which has established upper limits on the frequency of neutron star mergers (a source of gravitational radiation) in the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies.
  
• New observations of gamma-ray bursts and predictions of the gravitational waves expected to be produced by these cataclysmic events.
  
• New observations of other key sources of gravitational radiation, such as pulsars, black holes, neutron stars and supernovae.
  
• Update on the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) project, a proposed space-based mission to complement LIGO by detecting gravitational waves at a different range of frequencies.

Furthermore, because gravitational waves hardly interact with matter, they carry information from the heart of black hole mergers and other catastrophic events often enshrouded in dust, which blocks light. Background gravitational waves may still be reverberating from the Big Bang itself 13.7 billion years ago.

Members of the working press and freelance science writers are welcome to attend. Please contact William Steigerwald of NASA Goddard Public Affairs. Media must present their credentials at the meeting registration desk for free registration. Credentials include: a press card, a membership card from NASW or a regional affiliate of NASW, or prior agreement from Goddard Public Affairs.

For more information about the meeting, including location and schedule, refer to:
http://astrogravs.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/agws_workshop/program.html.