Probing the Universe with Gravitational Waves: the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA)

- For the LISA International Science Team: LISA is a joint NASA/ESA space mission designed to measure gravitational waves in the band from 0.1 mHz to 0.1 Hz, a band that is richly populated by strong sources of gravitational waves. Signals will come from a wider range of sources: massive black holes merging in galaxies at all distances; massive black holes consuming smaller compact objects; known Galactic binary stars; and possibly other sources including relics of the Big Bang. These sources convey detailed information addressing a wide range of physics and astrophysics: the history of galaxies and black holes in the universe; general relativity and the behavior of spacetime; precision measurements of the Universe as a whole; the physics of dense matter and stellar remnants; and possibly new physics associated with events in the very early universe. We will survey the science goals of LISA and their impact on physics and astrophysics.