Time: Friday November 8th 10:00am
Place: 241 Nicholson
Abstract:
Future detections of compact binary mergers with Earth- and space-based gravitational-wave detectors may give us an opportunity to
test strong-field gravity in previously unexplored regimes, and to constrain the formation history of compact binaries. Building on the introduction from my departmental colloquium, I will give an informal (and more technical) discussion of the opportunities and challenges that await us. Can we really constrain alternative theories of gravity? Can we actually pin down the physical mechanism responsible for compact binary formation? What are the challenges that await gravitational-wave astronomy, given the current funding climate in the US and Europe?
