Monday, February 27, 2023 3pm to 4pm
Speaker: Hector Okada da Silva, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics
The coalescence of compact binaries and the gravitational waves produced in this process provides a unique glimpse into gravity in its strong, dynamic, and nonlinear regime. Prominent during a black-hole coalescence is the plunge-merger stage when the black holes collide at a significant fraction of the speed of light. How robust are the predictions of Einstein's general relativity at this stage? I will discuss a relatively simple gravitational waveform model that allows us to explore this question. As an application, I will use this waveform model to reanalyse two black-hole events, GW150914 and GW200129. In particular, the analysis of GW200129 turned into a detective adventure. It revealed a series of subtle issues that must be considered when interpreting tests of general relativity with present-day gravitational-wave observations.
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Undergraduate Students, Faculty & Staff, General Public, Graduate Students
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