Observations of Gravitational Waves from Black Hole and Neutron Star Mergers

The Department of Physics is pleased to welcome Professor Stephen Fairhurst for an in-person colloquia presentation. Dr. Fairhurst is the Head of Gravity Exploration Institute at Cardiff University. His research focuses on observing gravitational wave signals emitted by the coalescence of black holes and neutron stars and using these observations to understand the properties of the systems that we observe.

Abstract

The Advanced LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors have completed three observing runs. During this time, they have observed gravitational wave signals from close to a hundred compact binary coalescences consisting of pairs of neutron stars or black holes. In this talk, I will present an overview of the latest observations, including a discussion of some of the most novel events.  The observations can be used to infer the population of black holes and neutron stars in the universe. I will present an overview of the populations and discuss some unexpected features, such as the emergence of structure in the black hole mass distribution.

If you are interested in attending remotely, please contact phyadmin@syr.edu for Zoom link.