[astroseminar at Sapienza] 15/01/2018 at 14:30: Davide Gerosa

[Elia Battistelli]

Title: Where do binary black holes come from? How do we find it out?
Speaker:  Davide Gerosa
Institution: California Institute of Technology
Date: Monday, 15 January 2018
Time: 2:30pm
Location: Aula Conversi, Marconi Building, Dept. of Physics, Sapienza 
University

Abstract:
Gravitational-wave observations provide a new tool to study formation 
and evolutionary processes of black holes. I first introduce the main 
black-hole binaries formation pathways and describe which observables 
can help us to distinguish between them. I then present some recent 
attempts to extract astrophysical constraints from the 
gravitational-wave events of LIGO’s first observing runs. In particular, 
the spin misalignment of the black-hole binary GW151226 ("the Boxing Day 
event") can be used to measure the linear momentum imparted to black 
holes at birth, hence the degree of asymmetry of the related supernova 
explosions. The first events also provide marginal constraints on the 
presence of multiple merger generations (i.e. merging black holes which 
are the results of previous mergers, rather than stellar collapse). I 
also show how astrophysical priors can be used in the data analysis 
process to maximize the astrophysical information extracted from these 
landmark discoveries. The future is bright and loud: as hundreds of 
gravitational-wave events are expected in the next few years, these 
elusive gravity messengers will soon prove their immense potential to 
shape our understanding of the astrophysical world.

web: https://agenda.infn.it/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=14779