Geoffrey Lovelace

Biography

My research goals focus on modeling sources of gravitational waves using numerical relativity. Gravitational waves—ripples of spacetime curvature—are opening a new window on the universe. The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (Advanced LIGO) has observed the  first gravitational waves  passing through Earth, which came from merging black holes. My students and I use  supercomputers  to simulate colliding black holes using the  Spectral Einstein Code (SpEC) , and we are particularly interested in modeling  merging black holes that spin nearly as fast as possible  and in  responding to LIGO observations . I recently have begun using supercomputers to  model thermal noise  in LIGO mirrors, with the goal of helping to improve the sensitivity of next-generation detectors, and exploring  how well gravitatioanl-wave detectors can measure rapid black-hole spins .