In December, our group held a whole-day workshop aimed at Hong Kong high school students with an interest in gravitational waves. The session consisted of a general introduction to the topic of gravitational-wave physics: what gravitational waves are, where they come from, how we detect them, and how we analyze them.
The workshop consisted of a morning session, lunch break, and an afternoon session, and covered 3 main topics in modern gravitational-wave physics. Each topic was prefaced by a short lecture and introductory videos to give a bit of context on the subject, which was then followed by some exercises for the students to try their hand at real gravitational-wave physics.
The first topic introduced the history of gravitational waves, where they come from, and the data that we obtain from the detectors. The students were then given a sinusoidal waveform aimed at imitating a gravitational wave signal, which they then were able to analyze and draw out the chirp mass and the luminosity distance of the source system. After lunch, the second topic then held a brief laboratory demonstration of laser interferometry, and how the changing pattern of laser interference allows us to measure the displacement in the detector arms and thus identify gravitational waves, and how noise can affect our ability to detect these signals. The students then were allowed to practice gravitational wave triangulation, and the measurement of time delays between signals at different detectors. The third and final topic then covered a science application of gravitational wave physics through an introduction to the GW170817 event. Combining EM redshift information and gravitational-wave information, they were able to then determine an independent measurement of the Hubble constant with gravitational waves and see how this value compares with the current Hubble tension.
The session was attended by some 20 high school students from across Hong Kong, and we saw a great level of engagement, interest, and questions during and after the session, which was refreshing after the long break from outreach events such as this due to COVID. We are hoping to be able to hold this event again in the future, so if you’re interested, make sure to keep an eye out!
Below, you can find a link to our gallery and some pictures from the workshop.