12th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves (AMALDI 12)

Abstract

The Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves is the premier forum for the fields of gravitational wave science and gravitational wave detection. Held biannually, the Amaldi meetings are organized under the auspices of the Gravitational Wave International Committee (GWIC), which oversees the scientific program for the meeting.Amaldi 12 was held at the Hilton Hotel in Pasadena, CA from July 9-14, 2017. This was the first Amaldi conference since LIGO and Virgo announced the detection of gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes into a single black hole. Unlike previous Amaldi Conferences that focused on anticipated gravitational wave science and detector development, this was the first Amaldi conference to examine the science arising from the LIGO-Virgo detections and the successful LISA Pathfinder mission, the precursor to LISA.During the conference, the full range of gravitational wave science was represented, including plans for the further development of terrestrial and space based detectors, as well as progress in pulsar timing arrays. Emphasis was placed on the connection between gravitational wave science and the fields of observational astrophysics and multi-messenger astronomy, as well as in progress in modeling the waveforms for gravitational waves arising from various astrophysical sources, highlighting the stronger connection between experimental advances, numerical relativity simulations, and astrophysics theory.Guest editorDr. Sydney MeshkovCaltech, LIGO 100 – 36, Pasadena, CA 91125 (syd@ligo.caltech.edu)