Science - Relativistic Astrophysics: People: Curt Cutler

Laser Interferometer Space Antenna: Sources and Data Analysis Tools
LISA is a planned joint NASA/ESA mission to measure gravitational waves from space. Astrophysical sources for LISA include: compact binaries (e.g., white dwarf - white dwarf binaries), mergers of supermassive black holes, and inspirals of compact stellar-mass objects into supermassive black holes. Dr. Cutler does research on LISA sources and is developing methods and tools to be used in LISA data analysis. In particular, he is currently doing studies on how accurately physical source parameters (such as the source's location on the sky, or the masses of both objects in a binary) could be extracted from the noisy LISA data set. He is also developing computationally efficient strategies for digging weak signals out of the data, and he is participating in the Mock LISA Data Challenges, wherein synthetic source signals are added, in a blind way, to synthetic LISA noise, and participants are challenged to extract the signals and recover the correct parameter values. The goal of the Mock LISA Data Challenges is to develop the data analysis tools that will be needed for LISA, and to demonstrate readiness in this area.

LISA - Laser Interferometer Space Antenna Icon

LISA - Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
As the first dedicated space-based gravitational wave observatory, LISA will detect waves generated by binaries within our Galaxy, the Milky Way, and by massive black holes in distant galaxies.

LIGO - Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory Icon

LIGO - Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a facility dedicated to the detection of cosmic gravitational waves and the measurement of these waves for scientific research.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (9/05-present)
- Principal Scientist
- JPL Senior Research Scientist (since 4/06)
California Institute of Technology (2-06-present)
- Senior Faculty Associate
Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Golm, Germany (9/97-9/05)
- Wissenschaftler (permanent research position)
Penn State University (9/94-9/97)
- Assistant Professor of Physics
Cornell University (9/93-9/94)
- Research Associate in Theoretical Astrophysics
California Instiute of Technology (9/90-9/93)
- Research Associate in Theoretical Astrophysics
University of Pittsburgh (9/88-9/90)
- Research Associate in General Relativity

1995 Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship

Cutler, C. and Harms, J., 2006 "Big Bang Observer and the neutron-star-binary subtraction problem," Phys. Rev. D. 73 042001.
Cutler, C., Gholami, I., & Krishnan, B., 2005 "Improved Stack-Slide Searches for Gravitational Wave Pulsars," Phys. Rev. D. 72 042004.
Barack, L., and Cutler, C., 2004 "LISA Capture Sources: Approximate Waveforms, Signal-to-Noise Ratios, and Parameter Estimation Accuracy," Phys. Rev. D. 69 082005.
Cutler, C., 2002 "Gravitational Waves from Neutron Stars with Large Toroidal B-fields," Phys. Rev. D. 66 084025.
Cutler, C., and Jones, I. D., 2001 "Gravitational Wave Damping of Neutron Star Wobble," Phys. Rev. D. 63 024002.
Ushomirsky, G., Cutler, C., and Bildsten, L. 2000 "Deformations of Accreting Neutron Star Crusts and Gravitational Wave Emission," Mon. Not. Roy. Ast. Soc. 319 902.
Brady, P. R., Creighton, T., Cutler, C., & Schutz, B. F., 1998 "Searching for periodic sources with LIGO," Phys. Rev. D. 57 2101.
Cutler, C. 1998 "Angular Resolution of the LISA Gravitational Wave Detector," Phys. Rev. D. 57 7089.
Bildsten, L., Ushomirsky, G., & Cutler, C., 1996 "Ocean g-modes in Rotating Neutron Stars," Ap. J. 460 827.
Apostolatos, T., Cutler, C., Sussman, G. J., & Thorne, K. S., 1994 "Spin-Induced Orbital Precession and its Modulation of the Gravitational Waveforms from Merging Binaries," Phys. Rev. D 49 6274.
Cutler, C., & Flanagan, E. E., 1994 "Gravitational waves from merging compact binaries: How accurately can one extract the binary's parameters from the inspiral waveform?" Phys. Rev. D 49 2658.
Cutler, C., Finn, L. S., Poisson, E., and Sussman, G. J., 1992 "Gravitational Radiation from a Particle in Circular Orbit around a Black Hole. II: Numerical Results for the Nonrotating Case," Phys. Rev. D 47 1511.
Cutler, C., 1992 "The Global Structure of Gott's 2-String Spacetime," Phys. Rev. D 45 487.
Cutler, C., and Lindblom, L., 1992 "Post-Newtonian Frequencies for the Pulsations of Rapidly Rotating Neutron Stars," Ap. J. 385 630.
Cutler, C., 1991 "post-Newtonian Effects on the Modes of Rotating Stars," Ap. J. 374 248.
Cutler, C. and Wald, R. M., 1988 "Existence of Radiating Einstein-Maxwell Solutions which are C^∞ on all I⁺ and I^-," Class. Quantum Grav. 6 453.
Cutler, C. and Wald, R. M., 1987 "A New Type of Gauge Invariance for a Collection of Massless Spin-2 Fields: Existence and Uniqueness," Class. Quantum Grav. 4 1267.
Cutler, C. and Lindblom, L., 1987 "The Effect of Viscosity on Neutron Star Oscillations," Ap. J., 314 234.