- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine
Access Provided by Xinjiang University

Reviews of Modern Physics

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Access by Xinjiang University

Gravitational-wave research: Current status and future prospects

Kip S. Thorne

Kip S. Thorne

  • California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125

PDF

Rev. Mod. Phys. 52, 285 – Published 1 April, 1980

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.52.285

Abstract

There is a reasonably good change that in the 1980s cosmic gravitational waves will be discovered and will become a powerful tool for astronomy. This prospect has stimulated a three-pronged research effort. First, relativity theorists are developing new mathematical tools for the analysis of gravitational radiation—including (i) methods of analyzing the generation of gravity waves by sources with strong selfgravity and large internal velocities (e.g., collisions of black holes), (ii) methods of computing radiation reaction in sources, and (iii) methods of analyzing how gravitational waves propagate through our lumpy curved-space Universe. Second, astrophysicists are attempting to identify the most promissing sources of gravitational waves, and are using the relativity theorists' mathematical tools to estimate the characteristics of the waves they emit. Third, with the estimated wave characteristics in mind, experimenters are designing and constructing a second generation of gravitational-wave detectors—detectors of three types: Doppler tracking of interplanetary spacecraft, Earth-based laser interferometers, and Earth-based Weber-type resonant bars. This article reviews, in brief, all three prongs of the research effort and gives references to more detailed articles about specialized aspects of gravitational-wave physics.

View figure in article

References (113)

  1. Adami, L., M. Cerdonio, F. F. Ricci, and G. L. Romani, 1977, Appl. Phys. Lett. 30, 240
  2. Armstrong, J. W., R. Woo, and F. B. Estabrook, 1979, Astrophys. J. 230, 570
  3. Bahcall, J. N., 1979, Space Sci. Rev., 24, 227
  4. Bahcall, J. N., and R. Davis, 1976, Science 191, 264
  5. Bardeen, J. M., and W. H. Press, 1973, J. Math. Phys. 14, 7
  6. Bardeen, J. M.W. H. PressBertotti, B., editor, 1974, Experimental Gravitation: Proceedings of Course 56 of the International School of Physics "Enrico Fermi" (Academic, New York)
  7. Bertotti, B., and B. J. Carr, 1980, Astrophys. J., in press
  8. Billing, H., K. Maischberger, A. Ruediger, R. Schilling, L. Schnupp, and W. Winkler, 1979, J. Phys. E, 12, 1043
  9. Blair, D., 1979, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 50, 286
  10. Blandford, R. D., 1979, in Sources of Gravitational Radiation, edited by L. Smarr (Cambridge University, Cambridge, England)
  11. Blandford, R. D., and K. S. Thorne, 1979, in General Relativity an Einstein Centenary Survey, edited by S. W. Hawking and W. Israel (Cambridge University, Cambridge, England)
  12. Braginsky, V. B., 1970, Physical Experiments with Test Bodies (Nauka, Moscow) Braginsky, V. B.English translation published as NASA-TT F 672 (National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia)
  13. Braginsky, V. B., V. I. Panov, V. G. Petnikov, and V. D. Popel'nyuk, 1977, Prib. Tekh. Eksp. 20, 234
  14. Braginsky, V. B., and V. N. Rudenko, 1978, Phys. Rep. 46, 165
  15. Braginsky, V. B., and Yu. I. Vorontsov, 1974, Usp. Fiz. Nauk 114, 41
  16. Braginsky, V. B., Yu. I. Vorontsov, and K. S. Thorne, 1980, Science, in press
  17. Burke, W. L., 1969, Ph.D. thesis, California Institute of Technology (unpublished)
  18. Burke, W. L., 1971, J. Math. Phys. 12, 402
  19. Carr, B. J., 1980, Astron. Astrophys., in press
  20. Carter, B., and H. Quintana, 1977, Phys. Rev. D 16, 2928
  21. Caves, C. M., 1979, Phys. Lett. B 80, 323
  22. Caves, C. M., 1980, Phys. Rev. Lett., submitted
  23. Caves, C. M., K. S. Thorne, R. W. P. Drever, V. D. Sandberg, and M. Zimmermann, 1980, Rev. Mod. Phys. 52, 000 (accompanying paper)
  24. Chandrasekhar, S., and S. L. Detweiler, 1975, Proc. R. Soc. (London) Ser. A 344, 441
  25. Chandrasekhar, S., and F. P. Esposito, 1970, Astrophys. J. 160, 153
  26. Christodoulou, D., and B. Schmidt, 1980, Commun. Math. Phys., to be submitted
  27. Crowley, R., and K. S. Thorne, 1977, Astrophys. J. 215, 624
  28. Cunningham, C. T., R. H. Price, and V. Moncrief, 1979, Astrophys. J., 230, 870
  29. Curtis, G., 1977, University of York, preprint
  30. Davis, M., R. Ruffini, and J. Tiomno, 1972, Phys. Rev. D 5, 2932
  31. Davis, R., 1979, Bull. Amer. Phys. Soc., 24, 48
  32. Deakyne, M., W. Frati, K. Lande, C. Lee, R. Steinberg, and E. Fenyves, 1978, in Neutrinos 78, edited by Eric C. Fowler (Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana), p. 887
  33. D'Eath, P., 1978, Phys. Rev. D 18, 990
  34. D'Eath, P., 1979, in Sources of Gravitational Radiation, edited by L. Smarr (Cambridge University, Cambridge, England)
  35. Deslattes, R. D., D. Edwards, S. Jacobs, D. Nygren, A. Rich, and D. Wilkinson, 1979, Gravitational Radiation Detector Projects Report to the National Science Foundation from the Technical Review Subcommittee, April 22, 1979 (unpublished)
  36. Detweiler, S. L., 1977, Proc. R. Soc. (London) Ser. A 352, 381
  37. Detweiler, S. L., and E. Szedenits, Jr., 1979, Astrophys. J. 231, 211
  38. Detweiler, S. L.E. Szedenits, Jr.de Sabbata, V., and J. Weber, editors, 1977, Topics in Theoretical and Experimental Gravitation Physics (Plenum, London)
  39. DeWitt, B., 1979, in General Relativity an Einstein Centenary Survey, edited by S. W. Hawking and W. Israel (Cambridge University, Cambridge, England)
  40. DeWitt, B., and R. W. Brehme, 1960, Ann. Phys. (NY) 9, 220
  41. DeWitt, B.R. W. BrehmeDeWitt-Morette, C., editor, 1974, IAU Symposium No. 64, Gravitational Radiation and Gravitational Collapse (Reidel, Dordrecht)
  42. Douglass, D. H., and V. B. Braginsky, 1979, in General Relativity an Einstein Centenary Survey, edited by S. W. Hawking and W. Israel (Cambridge University, Cambridge, England)
  43. Drever, R. W. P., 1977, Quarterly J. R. Astron. Soc. 18, 9
  44. Drever, R. W. P., J. Hough, W. A. Edelstein, J. R. Pugh, and W. Martin, 1977, in Gravitazione Sperimentale, edited by B. Bertotti (Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome), p. 365
  45. Drever, R. W. P., J. Hough, J. Pugh, H. Ward, M. Ford, and N. Robertson, 1980, in Proceedings of Second Marcel Grossman Meeting on Recent Developments of General Relativity, edited by R. Ruffini, in press
  46. Eardley, D. M., D. L. Lee, and A. P. Lightman, 1973, Phys. Rev. D 8, 3308
  47. Ehlers, J., 1979, Isolated Gravitating Systems in General Relativity (North-Holland, Amsterdam)
  48. Ehlers, J., A. Rosenblum, P. Havas, J. N. Goldberg, 1976, Astrophys. J. (Lett.) 208, L77
  49. Einstein, A., 1918, Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin Sitzber. 1918, 154
  50. Epstein, R., 1979, in Sources of Gravitational Radiation, edited by L. Smarr (Cambridge University, Cambridge, England)
  51. Epstein, R., and J. P. A. Clark, 1979, in Sources of Gravitational Radiation, edited by L. Smarr (Cambridge University, Cambridge, England)
  52. Estabrook, F. B., R. W. Hellings, H. D. Wahlquist, and R. S. Wolff, 1979, in Sources of Gravitational Radiation, edited by L. Smarr (Cambridge University, Cambridge, England)
  53. Estabrook, F. B., and H. D. Wahlquist, 1975, Gen. Rel. Grav. 6, 439
  54. Feynman, R. P., 1963, Acta Phys. Pol. 24, 697
  55. Forward, R. L., 1978, Phys. Rev. D 17, 379
  56. Gaiser, B. D., and R. V. Wagoner, 1980, Astrophys. J., submitted
  57. Giffard, R. P., 1976, Phys. Rev. D 14, 2478
  58. Grishchuk, L. P., and A. G. Polnarev, 1979, in General Relativity and Gravitation, Einstein commemorative volume, edited by A. Held (Plenum, New York)
  59. Heffner, H., 1962, Proc. IRE 50, 1604
  60. Heffner, H.Hegyi, J. H., editor, 1973, Sixth Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 224, 74-107
  61. Hellings, R. W., 1978, Phys. Rev. D 17, 3158
  62. Hirakawa, H., and K. Narihara, 1975, Phys. Rev. Lett. 35, 330
  63. Hoffman, A. W., D. H. Douglass, R. Q. Gram, and C. Lam, 1976, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 47, 1441
  64. Hough, J., J. R. Pugh, R. Bland, and R. W. P. Drever, 1975, Nature 254, 498
  65. Isaacson, R. A., 1968a, Phys. Rev. 166, 1263
  66. Isaacson, R. A., 1968b, Phys. Rev. 166, 1272
  67. Isaacson, R. A.Isham, C. J., R. Penrose, and D. W. Sciama, editors, 1975, Quantum Gravity (Clarendon, Oxford)
  68. Kafka, P., and L. Schnupp, 1978, Astron. Astrophys. 70, 97
  69. Kovacs, S. J., Jr. and K. S. Thorne, 1978, Astrophys. J. 224, 62
  70. Landau, L. D., and E. M. Lifshitz, 1941, Teoriya Polya (Nauka, Moscow) Landau, L. D.E. M. LifshitzEnglish translation of a later edition, The Classical Theory of Fields, 1951 (Addison-Wesley, Cambridge, Mass.)
  71. Lande, K., G. Bozoki, W. Frati, C. K. Lee, E. Fenyves, and O. Savedra, 1974, Nature 251, 485
  72. Lightman, A. P., and S. L. Shapiro, 1978, Rev. Mod. Phys. 50, 437
  73. Markov, M. A., G. V. Domogatsky, A. A. Komar, and A. N. Tavkhalidze, 1978, Neutrino '77 (Nauka, Moscow)
  74. Misner, C. W., K. S. Thorne, and J. A. Wheeler, 1973, Gravitation (Freeman, San Francisco)
  75. Misner, C. W.K. S. ThorneJ. A. WheelerNeugebauer, M., and R. W. Davies, editor, 1978, A Close-Up of the Sun (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Publication 78-70, Pasadena)
  76. Newman, E. T., and R. Penrose, 1968, Proc. R. Soc. (London) Ser. A 305, 175
  77. Paik, H. -J., 1976, J. Appl. Phys. 47, 1168
  78. Pegoraro, F., L. A. Radicati, P. Bernard, and E. Picasso, 1978, Phys. Lett. A 68, 165
  79. Penrose, R., 1964, in Relativity, Groups, and Topology, edited by C. and B. DeWitt (Gordon and Breach, New York)
  80. Penrose, R., 1968, in Battelle Rencontres: 1967 Lectures in Mathematics and Physics, edited by C. DeWitt and J. A. Wheeler (W. A. Benjamin, New York)
  81. Pirani, F. A. E., 1964, in Lectures on General Relativity, edited by A. Trautman, F. A. E. Pirani, and H. Bondi (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs)
  82. Press, W. H., 1970, unpublished work described in Box 37.2 of Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler (1973)
  83. Rees, M. J., 1977, in Gravitazione Sperimentale, edited by B. Bertotti (Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome)
  84. Richard, J. -P., 1976, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 47, 423
  85. Roberts, A. and G. Wilkins, 1978, Proceedings of the 1978 DUMAND Summer Workshop (Vols. 1,2,3) (Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, California)
  86. Robaschik, V. D., 1963, Acta Phys. Pol. 24, 299
  87. Robaschik, V. D.Rosen, N., and G. Shaviv, editors, 1975, General Relativity and Gravitation: Proceedings of GR7 (Keter, Jerusalem)
  88. Rosenblum, A., 1978, Phys. Rev. Lett. 41, 1003
  89. Sachs, R. K., 1964, in Relativity, Groups, and Topology, edited by C. and B. DeWitt (Gordon and Breach, New York)
  90. Sachs, R. K.Smarr, L., editor, 1979, Sources of Gravitational Radiation: Proceedings of the Battelle Seattle Workshop July 24-August 4, 1978 (Cambridge University, Cambridge, England)
  91. Smarr, L., and R. D. Blandford, 1976, Astrophys. J. 207, 574
  92. Suzuki, T., K. Tsubono, and H. Hirakawa, 1978, Phys. Lett. A 67, 2
  93. Taylor, J. H., L. A. Fowler, and P. M. McCulloch, 1979a, Nature 277, 437
  94. Taylor, J. H., L. A. Fowler, and P. M. McCulloch, 1979b, results reported at Second Marcel Grossman Meeting on General Relativity, Trieste, Italy, July 1979
  95. Thorne, K. S., 1969a, Astrophys. J. 158, 1
  96. Thorne, K. S., 1969b, Astrophys. J. 158, 997
  97. Thorne, K. S., 1977, in Topics in Theoretical and Experimental Gravitation Physics, edited by V. de Sabbata and J. Weber (Plenum, London)
  98. Thorne, K. S., 1978, in Theoretical Principles in Astrophysics and Relativity, edited by N. R. Lebovitz, W. H. Reid, and P. O. Vandervoort (University of Chicago, Chicago), p. 149
  99. Thorne, K. S., 1980, Rev. Mod. Phys. 52, 000 (accompanying paper)
  100. Thorne, K. S., R. W. P. Drever, C. M. Caves, M. Zimmermann, and V. D. Sandberg, 1978, Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 667
  101. Thorne, K. S., C. M. Caves, V. D. Sandberg, M. Zimmermann, and R. W. P. Drever, 1979, in Sources of Gravitational Radiation, edited by L. Smarr (Cambridge University, Cambridge, England)
  102. Tsubono, K., S. Hiramatsu, and H. Hirakawa, 1977, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 16, 1641
  103. Tyson, J. A., and R. P. Giffard, 1978, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 16, 521
  104. Vessot, R. F. C., and M. W. Levine, 1978, in A Close-Up of the Sun, edited by M. Neugebauer and R. W. Davies (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Publication 78-70, Pasadena)
  105. Walker, M., and C. M. Will, 1979, Phys. Rev. D 19, 3483 and 3495
  106. Weber, J., 1959, Rev. Mod. Phys. 31, 681 (see especially Sec. V)
  107. Weber, J., 1960, Phys. Rev. 117, 306
  108. Weber, J., 1969, Phys. Rev. Lett. 22, 1302
  109. Weber, J., 1979, in General Relativity and Gravitation, Einstein commemorative volume, edited by A. Held (Plenum, New York)
  110. Weiss, R., 1972, Quarterly Prog. Rep., Research Lab. Electronics, MIT 105, 54
  111. Weiss, R., 1979, in Sources of Gravitational Radiation, edited by L. Smarr (Cambridge University, Cambridge, England)
  112. Will, C. M., 1979, in General Relativity an Einstein Centenary Survey, edited by S. W. Hawking and W. Israel (Cambridge University, Cambridge, England)
  113. Zimmermann, M., and K. S. Thorne, 1980, in Essays in General Relativity: A Festschrift for Abraham H. Taub, edited by F. J. Tipler (Academic, New York)

Outline

Information

Rev. Mod. Phys. 52, 285– Published 1 April, 1980

    © 1980 American Physical Society

    Sign In to Your Journals Account

    Filter

    Filter

    Article Lookup

    Enter a citation