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Press Release Archive: 2011
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Luftballons und die Expansion des Universums
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Dr. Frank Hellmann |
9. November 2011
Einsteins Theorien am bundesweiten Max-Planck-Tag am 11. November in der Berlin British School
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Was war vor dem Urknall?
AEI-Wissenschaftler berichtet bei Falling-Walls-Konferenz in Berlin
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Dr. Jean-Luc Lehners |
4. November 2011
Dr. Jean-Luc Lehners vom Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik
(Albert-Einstein-Institut/AEI) gehört zu den 20 internationalen
Spitzenwissenschaftlern, die am Mittwoch, dem 9. November auf der
Falling-Walls-Konferenz im Berliner Radialsystem über die Grenzen des
Wissens und deren Überwindung sprechen werden.
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Nine new gamma pulsars: Discoveries in Fermi telescope data thanks to method used in gravitational wave astronomy
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The nine gamma-ray pulsars discovered at AEI Hannnover |
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© AEI & NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration |
3th November 2011
Pulsars are the lighthouses of the universe. These compact and fast-rotating neutron stars flash
many times per second in the radio or gamma-ray band. Pure gamma-ray pulsars are extremely
difficult to find despite their high energy because they radiate very few photons per unit of time.
Using an improved analysis algorithm, scientists from the Max Planck Society and international
partners now discovered a set of previously unknown gamma-ray pulsars with low luminosity in
data from the Fermi satellite. These pulsars had been missed using conventional methods. The
number of known gamma-ray pulsars has thus grown to over 100. (The paper will be published in
the Astrophysical Journal.)
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AEI beim Treffen der besten Physiker vertreten
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17. Oktober 2011
Prof. Dr. Hermann Nicolai und Prof. Dr. Niklas Beisert wurden zur 25. Solvay-Konferenz für Physik nach Brüssel eingeladen
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Squeezed laser will bring gravitational waves to the light of day
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The new squeezing laser at GEO600. This highly complex laser system generates light which radiates much more calmly than light from a conventional laser source. |
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© AEI |
11th September 2011
A quantum phenomenon allows detectors which sense oscillations of space-time to measure with 50 percent more accuracy
Measuring at the limits of the laws of nature – this is the challenge which researchers repeatedly take up in their search for gravitational waves. The interferometers they use here measure with such sensitivity that a particular quantum phenomenon of light – shot noise – limits the measuring accuracy. With the “squeezed light” method scientists from the Max Planck Society and the Leibniz Universität Hannover likewise use quantum physics in a countermove in order to remove the interfering effect. The new type of laser light improves the measuring accuracy of the gravitational wave detector GEO600 by around 50 percent and thus increases its effective sensitivity. This is the first time this technology has been used outside of a test laboratory anywhere in the world. The results will be published in the specialist journal Nature Physics, online on 11th September 2011. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NPHYS2083)
Optimized curve of measurement (rot): Squeezed laser light improves the sensitivity of GEO600 at frequencies from some hundreds Hertz and higher by about 50 percent. black curve: measurements without the squeezing laser.
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Tag der Offenen Türen
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01. September 2011
Zum Tag der Offenen Türen am Samstag, den 10. September 2011 in der Zeit von 10.00 bis 16.00 Uhr laden wir die Öffentichkeit ganz herzlich ein. Mit unserem Programm möchten wir den Besuchern einen faszinierenden und kurzweiligen Einblick in die Forschung, Arbeit und Entwicklung am Standort bieten.
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European scientists take a major step forward towards detecting gravitational waves
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5th August 2011
Scientists operating Europe’s gravitational wave observatories have combined efforts this summer to search for gravitational waves. This groundbreaking research is being taken forward in Europe while similar US-based detectors undergo major upgrade work.
Cataclysmic cosmic events such as supernovae, colliding neutron stars and black holes, as well as more familiar objects such as rotating neutron stars (pulsars) are expected to emit gravitational waves – oscillations in the fabric of space-time predicted by Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. The detection of such waves would revolutionise our understanding of the Universe.
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Stringtheoretiker Professor Stefan Theisen erhält den J. Hans D. Jensen-Preis 2011
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Prof. Stefan Theisen |
11. Juli 2011
Das Institut für Theoretische Physik der Rubrecht-Karls-Universität
Heidelberg hat Stefan Theisen für seine Arbeiten über die Stringtheorie
den mit einer Gastprofessur in Heidelberg verbundenen Preis verliehen.
Gestiftet wurde die Auszeichnung von der Klaus Tschira Stiftung.
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Professor Bernard Schutz receives an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow
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Prof. Bernard Schutz |
30th June 2011
Professor Bernard Schutz receives an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow will bestow the title of Honorary Doctor on Professor Bernard Schutz on 30 June 2011 in recognition of his vital and internationally recognised contributions to theoretical astrophysics.
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Besser hören mit verteilten Ohren
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Ohr ins All: Der deutsch-britische Gravitationswellendetektor GEO600 in Ruthe bei Hannover © Albert-Einstein-Institut Hannover |
27th May 2011
Ein Observatorium in Japan, Australien oder Indien würde die Wahrscheinlichkeit, Gravitationswellen zu messen, dramatisch erhöhen
Detektoren in den USA, Deutschland und Italien liegen auf der Lauer, um
einem von Albert Einsteins letzten Geheimnissen auf die Spur zu kommen:
Gravitationswellen. Bisher gelang es nicht, diese Krümmungen der
Raumzeit direkt nachzuweisen. Würden die vorhandenen Detektoren jedoch
anders über die Erde verteilt, stiegen die Chancen um mehr als das
Doppelte. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt Bernard F. Schutz, Direktor am Golmer
Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut),
in einer neuen Studie. Und eine weitere Verbesserung ließe sich mit dem
Bau zusätzlicher Gravitationswellen-Observatorien erzielen.
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Plans shape up for a revolutionary new observatory to explore black holes and the Big Bang
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19th May 2011
Plans shape up for a revolutionary new observatory to explore black holes and the Big Bang
Scientists present their design for Einstein Telescope – Europe’s next-generation detector that will ‘see’ the Universe in gravitational waves
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After NASA’s withdrawal from partnership with Europe: Science team begins to rethink LISA design.
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14th April 2011
It was just in February this year that ESA kicked off the process of picking the next major mission in its Cosmic Vision program, with presentations at a meeting of Europe's astronomers and planetary scientists in Paris. Among the favorites was the first gravitational wave observatory in space, called LISA, which had already been given a high scientific priority in the USA by NASA's 2007 Beyond Einstein review and by American astronomers' 2010 Decadal Review of Astronomy. But now NASA has admitted that cost overruns on its James Webb Space Telescope mission will remove so much money from its program that it cannot commit to being an equal partner with ESA on any major science mission in the near future.
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The engine that powers short gamma-ray bursts
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During the merger of two neutron stars a strong magnetic field is formed along the rotational axis, which creates a jet. |
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© L. Rezzolla (AEI), M. Koppitz (AEI/ZIB). |
7th April 2011
A simulation of colliding neutron stars helps to explain
what could lie behind these cosmic bursts of radiation.
These explosions have been puzzling scientists for years: those brief flashes of gamma light can in fact release more energy in a fraction of a second than what our entire galaxy releases in one year - even with its 200 billion stars. What causes those explosions? Scientists working with Prof. Luciano Rezzolla at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics are now one step closer to solving the riddle. (Astrophysical Journal Letters, 732:L6, 2011)
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Einstein@Home detects unusual stellar pair
The neutron star and its companion could prove helpful in testing the general theory of relativity
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Orbiting around a common centre of gravity: This simulation shows the orbits of pulsar J1952+2630 and its companion, presumably a white dwarf. The orbits are virtually circular, they only appear to be elliptical due to the viewing angle. |
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© AEI |
6th April 2011
Neutron stars are quite unique: the material they are made of is packed much
more densely than conventional matter. They rotate extremely fast about
their own axis, emitting radiation in the process, so they are often visible as
pulsars in the radio spectrum. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for
Gravitational Physics in Hanover, working as part of the international PALFA
Collaboration, and with the help of participants in the Einstein@Home
project, have now discovered a pulsar accompanied by a white dwarf – a
burnt-out star. The researchers want to weigh the pair, using what is known
as the Shapiro effect. (Astrophysical Journal Letters, 732/1 L1)
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Auszeichnung für AEI-Wissenschaftler
Dr. Barry Wardell erhält einen mit 500 Euro dotierten Preis des renommierten Institute of Physics für seine exzellente Doktorarbeit.
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Barry Wardell |
6. April 2011
Was haben Probleme der Finanzmathematik und der Seismologie mit der
Berechnung Schwarzer Löcher gemeinsam? Bei ihrer wissenschaftlich
exakten Beschreibung helfen die sogenannten „Greenschen Funktionen“, ein
mathematisches Werkzeug für die Lösung von partiellen
Differentialgleichungen. In seiner prämierten Arbeit entwickelte Barry
Wardell innovative Techniken zur Berechnung der Greenschen Funktionen
mit dem Computer.
Der Preis wird am 6. April im Rahmen einer Konferenz an der Universität
Glasgow überreicht.
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Schnellster Rechen-Cluster in Berlin-Brandenburg: Wissenschaftsministerin Sabine Kunst weiht neuen Hochleistungsrechner Datura am Albert-Einstein-Institut ein
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Datura Cluster |
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© M. Fiorito/MPG |
5. April 2011
2400 Prozessoren, 200 Server, 4,8 TeraByte Arbeitsspeicher und eine maximale Rechenleistung von 25,5 TeraFlops – das entspricht 25.500 Milliarden Rechenoperationen pro Sekunde – dies sind die Eigenschaften des neuen Hochleistungsrechners Datura, mit dessen Hilfe Wissenschaftler des Max-Planck-Instituts für Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut/AEI) ab sofort die Zusammenstöße Schwarzer Löcher und Neutronensterne berechnen.
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Second discovery with Einstein@Home: J1952+2630 - a neutron star with a binary companion
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Sky position of the pulsar J1952+2630 and its companion. The binary star system was found by the Einstein@Home project in data from the Arecibo Radio Observatory. |
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© AEI Hannover, created with Celestia |
1st March 2011
Neutron stars are exotic objects. They consist of material that is much denser than normal matter; at similar densities the entire mass of the earth would form a ball about 260 m in diameter. Neutron stars spin quickly, sending out radiation like a lighthouse. They are most often visible as radio pulsars.
Working with the PALFA Collaboration, researchers under the direction of Prof. Bruce Allen at the Max-Planck-Institut for Gravitational Physics in Hannover have discovered a new pulsar.
It pulses 48 times per second, and appears to be orbiting a white dwarf star with almost the same mass as the Sun.
Without the participation of Einstein@Home volunteers like Dr. Vitaly V. Shiryaev (Moscow, Russia) and Stacey Eastham (Darwen, UK) this binary star system, which has an orbital period of 9.4 hours, would have escaped detection.
This is because interesting astrophysical objects, like this neutron star, can only be "extracted from the data" with great effort. For this reason, researchers have gotten help with their demanding data analysis problems from the general public, who volunteer the unused computing power of their home or office computers for Einstein@Home.
Einstein@Home is one of the world's largest distributed computing projects, with more than 280,000 participants. About 35% of its available computing power is being used to search radio telescope data, including data from the PALFA Collaboration. The Pulsar ALFA (PALFA) Collaboration was formed in 2003, with the goal of carrying out a large-scale search for new pulsars with the Arecibo Telescope. It has members from 20 Universities, Research Institutes and Observatories world-wide.
The Einstein@Home participants whose computers detected the new pulsar with the highest significance, Shiryaev and Eastham, are acknowledged by name in the paper.
The paper itself has been submitted for publication to the Astrophysical Journal.
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An der Schwelle zu einer neuen Astronomie – Generationswechsel bei den Gravitationswellendetektoren: Fazit und Ausblick
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Neuer Spiegel für GEO600 zum Signalrecycling |
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© AEI/Harald Lück |
GEO600 horcht bis 2015 allein ins All
04. Februar 2011
Die Wissenschaftler des Albert-Einstein-Instituts Hannover
(Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik und Leibniz Universität
Hannover) sowie ihre britischen Kollegen beenden derzeit die erste Phase
ihres großangelegten Experimentes GEO600. Seit mehr als zwei Jahrzehnten
entwickeln und erproben die Physiker dort Technologien für
Gravitationswellendetektoren. Jetzt ist das Ende der ersten Etappe auf der
Jagd nach den Gravitationswellen erreicht: die Messinstrumente
funktionieren in allen Observatorien des internationalen Netzwerks wie
erwartet. Sowohl das deutsch-britische GEO600-Observatorium als auch die
beiden LIGO-Detektoren in den USA und das Virgo-Experiment in Italien
arbeiten äußerst zuverlässig und hochpräzise. Damit sind die
Voraussetzungen für die nächste Generation von
Gravitationswellenobservatorien geschaffen.
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Prof. Karsten Danzmann in die Akademie der Wissenschaften in Hamburg berufen
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Prof. Karsten Danzmann |
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© Norbert Michalke/AEI |
14. Januar 2011
Für seine international führende Rolle auf dem Gebiet der Gravitationswellenforschung wurde
Prof. Karsten Danzmann, Direktor am Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik und Leiter des
Instituts für Gravitationsphysik der Leibniz Universität Hannover, zum Ordentlichen Mitglied der
Akademie der Wissenschaften in Hamburg gewählt. Er wird bei dem norddeutschen
Wissenschaftsbund künftig in der Arbeitsgruppe „Neue Herausforderungen der Kosmologie“
mitwirken. Heute Abend heißt die Hamburger Akademie ihre neue Forscherriege offiziell
willkommen.
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How neutron stars merge - first accurate calculation of the last orbits of binary systems of neutron stars
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Inspiralling neutron stars |
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© AEI/ZIB |
January 10, 2011
AEI scientists described for the first time new numerical methods for the calculation of gravitational wave signals
An article describing an important progress in modelling the last orbits of binary systems of neutron stars has been recently published in Physical Review Letters (Physical Review Letters (Vol.105, No.26).
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Den Urknall erforschen: Jean-Luc Lehners gründet neue Arbeitsgruppe am Albert-Einstein-Institut
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Dr. Jean-Luc Lehners |
10. Januar 2011
Dr. Jean-Luc Lehners kommt mit einem der begehrten „ERC Starting Grants“ (Fördergeld des Europäischen Forschungsrats) an das Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut/AEI) und wird hier während der nächsten fünf Jahre eine Forschungsgruppe zum Thema Stringkosmologie aufbauen.
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 webteam@aei.mpg.de |
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© 2013, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Potsdam |
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