Vulcano Workshop 2014 - Frontier Objects in Astrophysics and Particle Physics

Session

Astrophysics/Gravitational Waves and Gravity

19 May 2014, 12:15

Therasia Resort, Conference Room (Vulcano Island, Sicily, Italy)

Conveners

Astrophysics/Gravitational Waves and Gravity

• Angiola Orlando (University of California, San Diego)

Astrophysics/Gravitational Waves and Gravity

• Michel Boer (CNRS-ARTEMIS)

9. Open Problems in Gravitational Physics

Salvatore Capozziello (Università di Napoli "Federico II")

19/05/2014, 12:15

Extended gravity models have recently attracted a lot of interest as alternative candidates to explain the observed cosmic acceleration, the flatness of the rotation curves of spiral galaxies, the gravitational potential of galaxy clusters, and other relevant astrophysical phenomena. Very likely, what we call “dark matter” and “dark energy” are nothing else but signals of the breakdown of...

61. Fundamental Physics in the ESA Program

Luigi Cacciapuoti (European Space Agency)

19/05/2014, 12:40

Atomic clocks and high-performance links, classical accelerometers and atom interferometry sensors are today able to measure frequency, time, and distances, as well as to track the motion of massive bodies, quantum particles, and light to accuracy levels never reached before. These instruments achieve their ultimate performance in space, where the clean environment and the free-fall conditions...

29. Observational prospects in the electromagnetic domain of the gravitational wave sources

Marica Branchesi (Università di Urbino/INFN-Firenze)

19/05/2014, 17:00

A new exciting frontier of observational astronomy will soon start to be explored: the current upgrade of gravitational wave ground-based detectors, LIGO and Virgo, should make possible to observe gravitational wave signals for the first time. Expected sources of gravitational waves include the most energetic astrophysical events such as the merger of neutron stars and/or black holes and the...

18. Precision tests of General Relativity and Gravitation by Lunar Laser Ranging

Douglas Currie (University of Maryland, College Park)

19/05/2014, 17:25

Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) to the Apollo retroreflectors on moon over the past four decades has provided some of the best experimental tests of Gravitation and General Relativity. The history and technology of the Lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflectors (LLRR) deployed during the Apollo 11, 14 and 15 missions and the ranging program will be briefly described. The results of the LLRR program have...

59. An alternative gravity model with a non-minimal coupling between matter and curvature

Jorge Páramos (Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto)

19/05/2014, 17:50

We examine an extension of General Relativity with an explicit non-minimal coupling between matter and curvature. The purpose of this work is to present an overview of the implications of the latter to various contexts, ranging from astrophysical matter distributions to a cosmological setting. Various results are discussed, including the im- pact of this non-minimal coupling on the choice of...

31. Fundamental physics with space and ground atomic quantum sensors

Fiodor Sorrentino (FI)

19/05/2014, 18:15

Matter-wave interferometry has recently led to the development of new techniques for the measurement of inertial forces, with important applications both in fundamental physics and applied research. The remarkable stability and accuracy that atom interferometers have reached for acceleration measurements can play a crucial role for science and technology. Quantum sensors based on atom...

89. Detection of B-mode Polarization using BICEP2

Angiola Orlando (University of California, San Diego)

19/05/2014, 18:40