Abstract:

In recent years, gravitational physics has become one of the most dynamically developing areas of physics. In order to acquaint a wider circle of researchers with this subject, the Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics organizes a course of introductory lectures. Three lectures will be given, giving a general idea of the fundamentals of gravitational wave physics and the current state of observations of gravitational waves from cosmic sources.

The first lecture briefly outlines the derivation of the gravitational wave equation from Einstein equations, the theory of gravitational radiation from astronomical sources, the complex history of the theoretical prediction of gravitational waves and attempts to observe them, as well as the principles of modern gravitational wave detectors.