26th Australian Institute of Physics Congress and the Australian and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics

Session

AIP: General Relativity and Gravitation 1

ASGRG

8 Dec 2026, 11:00

Belinda Hutchinson Building (The University of Sydney )

Conveners

AIP: General Relativity and Gravitation 1

• Daniel Terno

821. Engineering the Next Generation: Low-Frequency Instrumentation Roadmaps for Future Gravitational Wave Observatories

Chiara Di Fronzo (UWA)

08/12/2026, 11:00

AIP | General Relativity and Gravitation (ASGRG)

Invited talk

The realization of next-generation gravitational wave observatories demands a radical departure from current low-frequency sensitivity limits. To extend the cosmological horizon of ground-based networks, detectors must be shielded from intense low-frequency seismic activity and localized gravitational fluctuations. This talk will review the engineering strategies and instrumentation milestones...

556. Calibration-aware black hole spectroscopy: preventing false deviations from general relativity in gravitational-wave ringdown

Rowina Nathan (Australian National University)

08/12/2026, 11:30

AIP | General Relativity and Gravitation (ASGRG)

Contributed Oral

After two black holes merge, the final black hole emits a ringdown signal composed of quasi-normal modes whose frequencies and decay times are set by its mass and spin. Measuring these modes tests general relativity in the strong-field regime, as the theory predicts a specific relationship between them.

Such tests rely on calibration, the conversion of the detector's raw output into...

125. Advanced Controls for the TorPeDO's Seismic Isolation Chain

Lane Scheel (Australian National University)

08/12/2026, 11:45

AIP | General Relativity and Gravitation (ASGRG)

Contributed Oral

The Torsion Pendulum Dual Oscillator (TorPeDO) experiment [1] aims to directly detect Newtonian noise, a fundamental limit to the low-frequency sensitivity of future terrestrial gravitational-wave detectors. TorPeDO employs a four-stage seismic isolation chain comprising an inverted pendulum, a vertical geometric anti-spring (GAS) filter, an intermediate mass, and a penultimate mass from which...

119. Suspension Platform Interferometer Pathfinder at the LIGO Gravitational-wave Observatory

Sheon Chua (Australian National University)

08/12/2026, 12:00

AIP | General Relativity and Gravitation (ASGRG)

Contributed Oral

In large optical systems, such as the Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) [1], active seismic isolation is used to reduce the optical platform motion. However, inter-platform motion presents a significant noise challenge to the low frequency sensitivity of these instruments. Suspension platform interferometry (SPI) [2] provides a potential solution via the measurement...

118. A Torsion Pendulum Sensor for Gravitational Fluctuation Measurement

Dr Bram Slagmolen (Australian National University)

08/12/2026, 12:15

AIP | General Relativity and Gravitation (ASGRG)

Contributed Oral

Newtonian noise, or gravitational fluctuations from local moving mass, is a low Fourier frequency noise source that will limit next-generation ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. At the Australian National University, we are developing an opto-mechanical torsion pendulum sensor for direct detection of Newtonian noise, consisting of two suspended orthogonal pendulums that rotate...