(invited by Tsvi)
Title: Gravitational Waves from Binaries: Precision Standard Candles out to z= 20!
Abstract:
Orbiting systems have always been an important place to discover and test
fundamental physics: Newton and the moon, Einstein and Mercury, Hulse and Taylor and binary pulsars. Simple, clean, and easy to model, binaries that radiate observable
gravitational waves also encode their distances in their signals, and gravitational
wave detectors on the ground and in space will soon be using them to calibrate the
universe. LIGO and VIRGO will measure the Hubble constant to high precision, test for
a local cosmic void, check the local cosmic distance ladder, and peer deep inside the
short gamma-ray burst systems. LISA will measure the Hubble constant to a precision
four times better than we have it now, will rival the accuracy of all other proposed
methods of measuring the dark energy equation of state, and most remarkably will
observe massive black hole binary mergers at times earlier than the epoch of
re-ionization. These high-redshift mergers, between z = 12 and z = 20, will be the
earliest individual objects we have ever had access to. LISA's observations will pin
down the physics of early black hole formation and look for exotic physics in the
dark universe.