Gravitational wave astronomy: learning from detections and non-detections

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• Pablo Rosado (Swinburne, Australia)
• Tuesday 31 May 2016, 11:00-12:00
• Physics West 117.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Ilya Mandel.

Just a few months ago, the first detection of gravitational waves (GWs) has opened a new window to the Universe. The Laser Interferometer GW Observatory (LIGO) has recorded the first heartbeat of GW astronomy. But the GW spectrum is huge, and the vast majority of it is yet unexplored. In this talk I will review what we have learned in recent years from both GW detections and from non-detections. In particular, the focus of the talk will be on an alternative way to search for GWs: using pulsar timing (PT). PT indeed provided us with the first (although somewhat indirect) evidence of GWs. It also allow for some of the most accurate tests of General Relativity, and it can even put tight constraints on alternative theories of gravity. Using PTs we also aim to detect GWs from supermassive black hole binaries. Even by not detecting them, we are already learning about the astrophysics of these systems and their host galaxies. Finally, I will describe the consequences of recent, game-shifting theoretical and observational discoveries that are bringing new insight in the GW detection prospects with PT.

This talk is part of the Astrophysics Talks Series series.

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• Astrophysics Talks Series
• Bham Talks
• Physics West 117
• What's on in Physics?

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