{"633727":{"#nid":"633727","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Nature Astronomy: Center for Relativistic Astrophysics Cover Story Is a Guide for Discovering Medium-sized Black Holes","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs if black holes weren\u0026rsquo;t shrouded in enough mystery, one question in particular puzzles scientists: Where are all the medium-sized versions of this celestial phenomenon?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA new \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-019-0932-7\u0022\u003Estudy\u003C\/a\u003E from members of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cra.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Center for Relativistic Astrophysics\u003C\/a\u003E lays the groundwork for how scientists could find those elusive black holes, and it\u0026rsquo;s the cover story for the March 2020 issue of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/natastron\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENature Astronomy\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We observe (black hole) interactions at many scales, from a little bigger than our sun to millions of times bigger than our sun,\u0026rdquo; says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/user\/deirdre-shoemaker\u0022\u003EDeirdre Shoemaker\u003C\/a\u003E, CRA director and professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026ldquo;But we have not observed black holes that sit in between those extremes.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShoemaker\u0026rsquo;s co-author for the study, fellow CRA member \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.karanjani.com\/about\u0022\u003EKaran Jani\u003C\/a\u003E, is an astrophysicist and\u0026nbsp;GRAVITY postdoctoral fellow\u0026nbsp;at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/\u0022\u003EVanderbilt University\u003C\/a\u003E. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Georgia Tech in 2017. Jani explains why researchers want to solve the mystery of the middling black holes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Black holes by themselves are very mysterious, but intermediate-mass black holes are even stranger,\u0026rdquo; he says. \u0026ldquo;We don\u0026rsquo;t really know how our universe can make these black holes. Some theories suggest such black holes could be remnants of the earliest stars born in our universe. So finding them is a crucial clue about the early environment and growth of our universe.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003ELaser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory Scientific Collaboration\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EJani and Shoemaker are both members of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ligo.org\/index.php\u0022\u003ELaser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration\u003C\/a\u003E, involving scientists from around the world assisting the search for evidence of gravitational waves, ripples in space and time caused by the collisions of black holes or neutron stars. In \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/features\/gravitational-waves-observed\u0022\u003ESeptember 2015\u003C\/a\u003E, LIGO made history when its ground-based detectors in Washington State and Louisiana directly observed gravitational waves emanating from a black hole collision 1.3 million light years away. The scientists responsible for the idea behind LIGO were rewarded in 2017 with the Nobel Prize in Physics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EGeorgia Tech Center for Relativistic Astrophysics\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShoemaker, a founding member of the CRA when it was established in 2008, says that effort was a big part of what\u0026rsquo;s been an eventful 12 years at the Center.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Our members have been engaged in profound discoveries such as those made by LIGO,\u0026rdquo; she says. \u0026ldquo;We have grown from four faculty in 2008 to nine in 2020. We have celebrated babies, marriages, new jobs, battled sickness, and much more. We have become American Physical Society fellows and won awards.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShoemaker says the CRA\u0026rsquo;s future will focus on developing a bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degree program in astrophysics and developing its new research initiative with the Space and Planetary Science courses within the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EMultiband Astronomy, Gravitational Waves\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShoemaker and Jani\u0026rsquo;s study provides guidance, via state-of-the-art gravitational waveform models and computer simulations, for how scientists could uncover intermediate-mass black holes. A key factor in that search is the continued development of multiband astronomy, combining ground-based gravitational waves detection and proposed space-based probes like the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/lisa.nasa.gov\/\u0022\u003ELaser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA\u003C\/a\u003E).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;With traditional telescopes, there is just no way to know how many of such black holes are out there,\u0026rdquo; Jani says. \u0026ldquo;As we show in our paper, with the new era of gravitational-wave telescopes, we can survey a large variety of intermediate-mass black holes pretty much across the universe.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Multiband gravitational waves is the next big chapter of modern astronomy and cosmology. Imagine hearing only a few lines of the songs \u0026mdash; which already has proved to be a revolution \u0026mdash; and then discovering it\u0026rsquo;s part of a five-year long musical! That\u0026rsquo;s what we will gain by having differing bands of gravitational wave telescopes in ground and space. As we show in our study, there is a population of black holes out there whose multiband observations will provide the strongest tests of Albert Einstein\u0026rsquo;s general theory of relativity.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EStudy on intermediate-mass black holes, multiband gravitational waves takes the spotlight in this month\u0026#39;s Nature Astronomy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Study on intermediate-mass black holes, multiband gravitational waves takes the spotlight in this month\u0027s Nature Astronomy."}],"uid":"34528","created_gmt":"2020-03-23 18:28:12","changed_gmt":"2020-03-30 17:49:14","author":"jhunt7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-03-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2020-03-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"633889":{"id":"633889","type":"image","title":"Nature Astronomy, March 2020","body":null,"created":"1585583620","gmt_created":"2020-03-30 15:53:40","changed":"1585583620","gmt_changed":"2020-03-30 15:53:40","alt":"","file":{"fid":"241195","name":"Nature Astronomy, March 2020 .jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Nature%20Astronomy%2C%20March%202020%20.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Nature%20Astronomy%2C%20March%202020%20.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1020137,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Nature%20Astronomy%2C%20March%202020%20.jpg?itok=Wg0LQZnL"}},"633725":{"id":"633725","type":"image","title":"March 2020 cover of Nature Astronomy.","body":null,"created":"1584987730","gmt_created":"2020-03-23 18:22:10","changed":"1584987730","gmt_changed":"2020-03-23 18:22:10","alt":"March 2020 cover of Nature Astronomy.","file":{"fid":"241145","name":"Nature Astronomy cover.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Nature%20Astronomy%20cover.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Nature%20Astronomy%20cover.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":532495,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Nature%20Astronomy%20cover.jpeg?itok=357QYKdL"}},"633739":{"id":"633739","type":"image","title":"Deirdre Shoemaker, Director of the Center for Relativistic Astrophysics and professor in the School of Physics. ","body":null,"created":"1584996016","gmt_created":"2020-03-23 20:40:16","changed":"1584996016","gmt_changed":"2020-03-23 20:40:16","alt":"Deirdre Shoemaker, Director of the Center for Relativistic Astrophysics and professor in the School of Physics. ","file":{"fid":"241147","name":"Shoemaker .jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Shoemaker%20.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Shoemaker%20.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1311974,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Shoemaker%20.jpg?itok=xITC5xb1"}},"633724":{"id":"633724","type":"image","title":"Karan Jani (Ph.D. Georgia Tech \u201817), professor at Vanderbilt University and member of the Center for Relativistic Astrophysics. Photo: Vanderbilt University","body":null,"created":"1584987690","gmt_created":"2020-03-23 18:21:30","changed":"1584987690","gmt_changed":"2020-03-23 18:21:30","alt":"Karan Jani (Ph.D. Georgia Tech \u201817), professor at Vanderbilt University and member of the Center for Relativistic Astrophysics. Photo: Vanderbilt University","file":{"fid":"241144","name":"Karan Jani.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Karan%20Jani.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Karan%20Jani.png","mime":"image\/png","size":610836,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Karan%20Jani.png?itok=BWPaPGIz"}},"596819":{"id":"596819","type":"image","title":"Black Holes Collide","body":null,"created":"1507031272","gmt_created":"2017-10-03 11:47:52","changed":"1507031272","gmt_changed":"2017-10-03 11:47:52","alt":"Black holes collide","file":{"fid":"227468","name":"ligo20160211d.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ligo20160211d.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ligo20160211d.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1713272,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ligo20160211d.jpg?itok=ZhMS2tpT"}},"629127":{"id":"629127","type":"image","title":"Simulation of Binary Black Holes","body":null,"created":"1574190553","gmt_created":"2019-11-19 19:09:13","changed":"1574190553","gmt_changed":"2019-11-19 19:09:13","alt":"","file":{"fid":"239596","name":"Picture1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Picture1_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Picture1_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":722717,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Picture1_0.jpg?itok=_FCAwqX_"}},"383971":{"id":"383971","type":"image","title":"LIGO in Hanford, Washington","body":null,"created":"1449246246","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:24:06","changed":"1475894393","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:53","alt":"LIGO in Hanford, Washington","file":{"fid":"75350","name":"aerial5-hanford.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/aerial5-hanford_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/aerial5-hanford_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4174107,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/aerial5-hanford_0.jpg?itok=QwVqs1A8"}}},"media_ids":["633889","633725","633739","633724","596819","629127","383971"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"364801","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS)"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"}],"keywords":[{"id":"91741","name":"Center for Relativistic Astrophysics"},{"id":"170034","name":"Deidre Shoemaker"},{"id":"120181","name":"gravitational wave"},{"id":"99091","name":"Gravitational waves"},{"id":"120161","name":"LIGO"},{"id":"174581","name":"Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory"},{"id":"183119","name":"multiband gravitational wave astronomy"},{"id":"184304","name":"Laser Interferometer Space Antenna"},{"id":"4079","name":"astrophysics"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39541","name":"Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:renay.san@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ERenay San Miguel\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["renay.san@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}