Talk title and abstract:
5 Years of Gravitational Wave Astronomy
The
first
direct
detection
of
gravitational
waves
was
made
a
little
over
5
years
ago
(about
1
graduate
student
generation).
The
LIGO
and
Virgo
Collaboration
(which
now
includes
KAGRA
too)
has
recently
updated
their
catalog
of
merging
binaries
of
black
holes
and
neutron
stars:
the
catalog
now
contains
a
total
of
50
events.
In
this
talk
I
will
give
an
overview
of
what
gravitational
waves
are
and
how
we
observe
them.
I
will
discuss
the
discoveries
made
over
the
past
5
years
and
how
they
help
us
learn
about
fundamental
physics
(tests
of
relativity;
state
of
dense
matter),
astrophysics
(origin
of
neutron
star
and
black
hole
binaries;
origin
of
certain
elements),
and
cosmology.
Would you like to join this Zoom seminar? Please email Donna Hayes.