NSU Graduate Contributes in Gravitational Waves Discovery

A former graduate of the Physics Department at Novosibirsk State University Prof. Sergey Klimenko has developed the main algorithm to analyze LIGO signals. It is due to the algorithm that gravitational waves were registered.

11 Feb., 2016 - LIGO Scientific Collaboration announced a scientific breakthrough, the experimental discovery of gravitational waves. The discovery agrees with Einstein’s theory and proves one of its postulates dated back to 1915. Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves 100 years ago, but the gravitational interaction is so weak that directly detecting the waves required certain technological prowess and a history of hunting.

The experiments were run with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). LIGO detectors are located in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana. They spotted the signal of gravitational waves that were a result of the collision of two black holes 29 and 36 times as massive as the sun, which merged about 1.3 billion years ago.

Prof. Sergey Klimenko, a Russian scientist who had graduated from the Physics Department of Novosibirsk State University, developed a search algorithm Coherent WaveBurst together with his UF colleagues and collaborators from Germany and Italy. Another former graduate of the Physics Department and the Director of the Accelerator Physics Center at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) Vladimir Shiltsev points out that it is the key algorithm that has allowed scientists to detect the gravitational waves.

Sergey Klimenko graduated from the Physics Department of Novosibirsk State University in 1981 and used to work for the BINP in Novosibirsk and Fermilab (Illinois, US). At present, Prof. Sergey Klimenko works at University of Florida. He has been taking part in LIGO experiments since 1997.

For more details on the contribution of Prof. Sergey Klimenko in the LIGO experiment see…