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SUMMARY:Gravitational waves: space-time mavericks in the cosmos. - Profess
 or Alberto Vecchio PhD\, FRAS\, Professor of Astrophysics\, Director of th
 e Institute of Gravitational Wave Astronomy\, University of Birmingham
DTSTART:20220307T193000Z
DTEND:20220307T210000Z
UID:TALK164449@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:John Cook
DESCRIPTION:Gravitational waves were first detected in 2015\, a hundred ye
 ars since Einstein predicted this form of radiation as a fundamental conse
 quence of his theory of general relativity. This first observation marked 
 the beginning of a new era in astronomy and of explorations of some of the
  most violent phenomena in the cosmos. We have discovered binary black hol
 es\, which we now know are abundant in our Universe. We have observed for 
 the first time the collision of a pair of neutron stars that has set in mo
 tion a sequence of remarkable events tracked by astronomers across the ele
 ctro-magnetic spectrum. We have just observed for the first time a new kin
 d of compact binary systems\, a neutron star orbiting a black hole. This i
 s just the beginning of a new journey to unveil some of the best kept secr
 ets of the Universe which is likely to provide many more surprises in the 
 years to come. This progress would not have been possible without the use 
 of a huge variety of technologies applied in a concerted way to crack a pr
 oblem that Einstein himself considered totally outside the reach of physic
 ists\, ever. Conversely\, pushing the boundaries of knowledge in fundament
 al physics feeds back into the “real world” (but you may have to wait 
 a while).
LOCATION:Location: Wolfson Lecture Theatre\, Churchill College\, and Zoom
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