PhD, BMaths(Hons) Philip completed his PhD in Mathematics at the University of Newcastle in 1998. He has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Australian National University and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena , and as a lecturer at La Trobe University. His research interests are in data analysis for the detection of gravitational waves, differential geometry and relativity. Data analysis for the detection of gravitational waves Investigators: Dr Philip Charlton Description: The Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory1 (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory to detect gravitational waves from astrophysical sources. LIGO is a joint project among scientists from several colleges and universities. Scientists involved in the project and the analysis of the data for gravitational-wave astronomy are organised by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration which includes more than 900 scientists worldwide. On September 14 2015, LIGO made the historic first direct detection of gravitational waves from the merger of two massive black holes, estimated to be 1.3 billion light-years away2. This discovery is the culmination of decades of instrumental research and development, through a world-wide effort of thousands of researchers, and made possible by dedicated support for LIGO from the National Science Foundation and other funding bodies including the Australian Research Council. This detection marks the beginning of a new era of gravitational wave astronomy – the possibilities for discovery are as rich and boundless as they have been with light-based astronomy. Dr Philip Charlton has been a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration since 2000 and a member of the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy3 (ACIGA) since 2005. His main field of interest is data analysis for the detection of the stochastic background of gravitational waves. Gravitational waves from a variety of sources are predicted to create a stochastic background4. This background is expected to contain unique information from throughout the history of the universe that is unavailable through standard electromagnetic observations, making its study of fundamental importance to understanding the evolution of the universe. You can read more on Gravitational Waves detected 100 years after Einsteins Prediction at CSU News [1] https://www.ligo.caltech.edu [2] "Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger", B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration) Physical Review Letters 116, 061102 http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102 [3] http://www.aciga.org.au/ [4] "An upper limit on the stochastic gravitational-wave background of cosmological origin", The LIGO Scientific Collaboration & The Virgo Collaboration, Nature 460, 990-994 http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7258/abs/nature08278.html
Senior Lecturers
Dr Philip Charlton
Senior Lecturer in Mathematics
Wagga Wagga
Building 1 Room 305
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Research
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Current Research Students
Past Research Students