Sarah Vigeland
Sarah Vigeland | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Carleton College |
| Thesis | Studies of strong-field gravity : testing the black hole hypothesis and investigating spin-curvature coupling (2012) |
Sarah Vigeland is an American physicist who is a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She uses pulsar timing arrays to study the low-frequency gravitational waves from supermassive black holes.
Early life and education
[edit]Vigeland studied physics at Carleton College. She was a doctoral researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied strong-field gravity and spin-curvature coupling.[1]
Research and career
[edit]Vigeland is interested in black holes and techniques for detecting gravitational waves.[2] Her early work considered high frequency gravitational waves, which she studied at LIGO. In 2013, Vigeland became involved with NANOGrav, an American collaborative effort to search for gravitational waves.[3] She secured a $17m grant to support the development and sensitivity of the Green Bank Telescope, Very Large Array and Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment.[4]
In 2023, Vigeland's team at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee announced their discover of a low frequency (nanohertz) “background hum” of gravitational waves across the universe.[5][6] Their announcement was the result of fifteen years of observational astrophysics.[7] The low frequency waves originate from supermassive black holes. Black holes at the centres of galaxies merge, triggering ripples of gravitational waves that propagate through the universe. The growth and evolution of black holes are related to the growth and evolution of host galaxies.[8]
To detect low frequency gravitational waves in the form of the stochastic gravitational wave background, Vigeland uses pulsar timing arrays.[9] These look for correlations in the timing residuals of collections of rapidly spinning, millisecond pulsars.[10][9] These ultrastable pulsars are the most precise astrophysical clocks in the universe. Vigeland is a keynote speaker at the American Physical Society Global Physics Summit.[11]
Selected publications
[edit]- Simon Johnston; G. Hobbs; S. Vigeland; M. Kramer; J. M. Weisberg; A. G. Lyne (December 2005). "Evidence for alignment of the rotation and velocity vectors in pulsars". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 364 (4): 1397–1412. arXiv:astro-ph/0510260. Bibcode:2005MNRAS.364.1397J. doi:10.1111/J.1365-2966.2005.09669.X. ISSN 0035-8711. Wikidata Q62779063.
- Sarah Vigeland; Stephen Taylor (28 November 2023). "The fingerprint of a cosmos swirling with gravitational waves". Physics Today. 2023 (11): 1128a. Bibcode:2023PhT..2023k1128V. doi:10.1063/PT.6.1.20231128A. ISSN 0031-9228. Wikidata Q132176919.
- Sarah Vigeland; Nicolás Yunes; Leo C. Stein (16 May 2011). "Bumpy black holes in alternative theories of gravity". Physical Review D. 83 (10). Bibcode:2011PhRvD..83j4027V. doi:10.1103/PHYSREVD.83.104027. ISSN 1550-7998. Wikidata Q132176938.
References
[edit]- ^ "Studies of strong-field gravity : testing the black hole hypothesis and investigating spin-curvature coupling | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2025-02-04.
- ^ "Revealed by Radio: The Universe Has a Gravitational Wave Background". STUDENTS. 2024-05-01. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
- ^ Schumacher, John (2023-06-29). "Celebrating a landmark NANOGrav discovery". UWM REPORT. Retrieved 2025-02-04.
- ^ Otto, Laura (2021-06-21). "Funding renewed for NANOGrav center, which includes UWM". UWM REPORT. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
- ^ Otto, Laura (2023-06-30). "Scientists turn exotic stars into a galaxy-sized detector of gravitational waves". UWM REPORT. Retrieved 2025-02-04.
- ^ "Evidence That Earth Is Enveloped in Slow-Rolling Sea of Gravitational Waves". SciTechDaily. 2023-08-09. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
- ^ "Colossal gravitational waves—trillions of miles long—found for the first time". Premium. 2025-02-05. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
- ^ Agazie, Gabriella; Anumarlapudi, Akash; Archibald, Anne M.; Arzoumanian, Zaven; Baker, Paul T.; Bécsy, Bence; Blecha, Laura; Brazier, Adam; Brook, Paul R.; Burke-Spolaor, Sarah; Charisi, Maria; Chatterjee, Shami; Cohen, Tyler; Cordes, James M.; Cornish, Neil J. (June 2023). "The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Detector Characterization and Noise Budget". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 951 (1): L10. arXiv:2306.16218. Bibcode:2023ApJ...951L..10A. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acda88. ISSN 2041-8205.
- ^ a b "PGI Seminar Series Fall 2024| Sarah Vigeland| University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee| "Physics and Astrophysics with Nanohertz Gravitational Waves" | Department of Physics". phy.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
- ^ Hodges, Julianne (2023-09-12). "Imagining the future of gravitational-wave research | symmetry magazine". www.symmetrymagazine.org. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
- ^ "Global Physics Summit 2025 experience". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2025-02-05.