Saturday, February 13, 2016

This is a rebirth of an earlier site that can be used for posting information regarding the search for gravitational waves. Of course, now that they have been detected by LIGO (in Sept. 2015), things are going forward in a different way. Originally, the Oakland Institute for Gravitational Wave Research (OIGWR) was focused on sharing information on the search for gravitational waves. Now it will follow the evolution of the process of detecting events that cause ripples in spacetime. We will also discuss new ideas that could further the sensitivity perhaps by improving signal to noise ratio using new digital filtering techniques.

I was and still am the Director of the OIGWR which was originally formed in early 1999. It is a non-profit organization that (in it's reincarnation) does not charge a membership fee.

Since I am an Electronics Engineer (BSEE, Fairleigh Dickinson University '61, MSEE Columbia University '63), teaching EE courses full time at FDU, and with decades of experience in the defense industry (before 2000), my personal focus will be on the electronics and electro-optics aspects of the equipment being used and developed. I am also somewhat familiar with the physics of gravitational waves and their sources.

I have written several unpublished (except for earlier posting on the internet) articles and papers on GW (not recently). I have given GW talks at several universities and conferences in NY, NJ, TX, and VA, . I have also investigated the feasibility of creating a weak GW signal generator for calibrating GW detectors (among other things related to the commonalities and differences between Electromagnetic and Gravitational Waves. .

Perhaps you would like to participate. If so, please post to this blog or (better yet if you will be providing non-public information) email me at m714lewis@gmail.com

Thanks

2 comments:

  1. Look forward to hearing great things from this blog with the dawn of a new era!

    Giri

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  2. Currently, OIGWR interests are as follows:
    Extracting signal from noise through use of digital signal processing (adaptive filters)
    Design of a Gravitational Wave signal source for use in the lab to calibrate GW detectors and establish their minimum detectable signal levels
    Why is space-time so “stiff” with the result that the “impedance” mismatch between the resonant mass type GW antenna and space-time is so very different?
    How else can electrical engineers assist with the evolution of GW detection (perhaps using methods other than interferometer) going forward.

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