The Dawn of Gravitational-Wave Astrophysics

In the past two years the gravitational-wave detections enabled by the LIGO detectors have launched a new field in observational astronomy allowing us to study compact object mergers involving pairs of black holes and neutron stars. I will discuss what current results reveal about compact object astrophysics, from binary black hole formation to short gamma-ray bursts and nuclear matter physics. I will also highlight what we can expect in the near future as detectors' sensitivity improves and multi-messenger astronomy further advances.

Speaker: Vicky Kalogera, Northwestern Univ.