Website: http://www.lsc-group.phys.uwm.edu/~jolien/

Research

In Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, gravity is described in terms of geometry: the distances between points in space and time. Gravitational waves—oscillating gravitational fields that affect the distances between nearby points—are produced by the most violent events in our universe including supernovae, collisions of black holes, and the big bang. Yet, these waves are barely noticeable and have yet to be detected.

The Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory, LIGO, is a national facility to detect gravitational waves. Creighton participates in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration in an international effort that will search for gravitational waves from the distant universe.

Biographical Sketch

Jolien Creighton obtained a BSc in Physics at the University of Calgary in 1992. He did his graduate work at the University of Waterloo, where he received his PhD in 1996. After earning his PhD, Creighton spent three years at the California Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral scholar. In 1999, he came to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to work as a research associate. In 2002 Professor Creighton joined the faculty, in 2007 he became an Associate Professor, and as of 2013 holds the rank of Professor.

Creighton has been chair of the Ligo Scientific Collaboration (LSC) internal review committee for the burst group during 5 years (2005–2009) and the LIGO/LSC Algorithm Library librarian since 2000. He has received six awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and his research is currently supported by two of them, PHY-0701817 and PHY-0600953.

Selected Publications

J. Aasi et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration, NINJA-2 Collaboration:). “Methods and results of a search for gravitational waves associated with gamma-ray bursts using the GEO 600, LIGO, and Virgo detectors,” Phys. Rev. D, 89, 122004 (2014).

J. Aasi et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration, NINJA-2 Collaboration). “The NINJA-2 project: detecting and characterizing gravitational waveforms modelled using numerical binary black hole simulations,” Class. Quantum Grav. 31, 115004 (2014).

J. Aasi et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration). “Search for gravitational wave ringdowns from perturbed intermediate mass black holes in LIGO-Virgo data from 2005-2010,” Phys. Rev. D, 89, 102006 (2014).

L. Wade, J.D.E. Creighton, E. Ochsner, B.D. Lackey, B.F. Farr, T.B. Littenberg, and V. Raymond. “Systematic and statistical errors in a Bayesian approach to the estimation of the neutron-star equation of state using advanced gravitational wave detectors,” Phys. Rev. D, 89, 103012 (2014).

J. Aasi et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration, The Virgo Collaboration). “Application of a Hough search for continuous gravitational waves on data from the fifth LIGO science run,” Class. Quantum Grav. 31, 085014 (2014).

J. Aasi et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration). “Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars: Results from the Initial Detector Era,” Astrophysical Journal, 785, 119 (2014).

J. Aasi et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration). “Constraints on Cosmic Strings from the LIGO-Virgo Gravitational-Wave Detectors,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 131101 (2014).

J. Aasi et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration). “First Searches for Optical Counterparts to Gravitational-Wave Candidate Events,” Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 211, 7 (2014).

J. Aasi et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration). “Search for long-lived gravitational-wave transients coincident with long gamma-ray bursts,” Phys. Rev. D, 88, 122004 (2013).

J. Aasi et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration). “Directed search for continuous gravitational waves from the Galactic center,” Phys. Rev. D, 88, 102002 (2013).