Colloquium: Dr. David Reitze | LIGO-Caltech
In-Person PHYS 401
Wednesday, February 18, 2026 · 11 AM - 12 PM
TITLE: "10 Years of Observing the (Mostly) Dark Side of the Universe with LIGO and Virgo”
ABSTRACT: The first direct detection of gravitational waves from a pair of colliding black holes in 2015 ago opened a new window to the high energy universe. Since then the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA international gravitational-wave detector network has observed hundreds of events, mostly pairs of black holes but also binary neutron star mergers as well as neutron star - black hole collisions.
ABSTRACT: The first direct detection of gravitational waves from a pair of colliding black holes in 2015 ago opened a new window to the high energy universe. Since then the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA international gravitational-wave detector network has observed hundreds of events, mostly pairs of black holes but also binary neutron star mergers as well as neutron star - black hole collisions.
This talk will present highlights from LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing runs, and discuss how they've changed our thinking about the Universe. I'll also discuss how the use of squeezing -- the application of quantum-engineered light states -- have increased the sensitivity of the LIGO interferometers. Finally, we'll also peer into the future and look at Cosmic Explorer, a next-generation observatory being designed to probe the gravitational-wave universe out to redshifts as large as 100.
