Black holes as laboratories of fundamental physics
by
Vitor Cardoso(IST Lisbona)
→
Europe/Rome
Aula Conversi (Dip. di Fisica - Edificio G. Marconi)
Aula Conversi
Dip. di Fisica - Edificio G. Marconi
Description
Black holes are multifaceted objects that probe the
strong-field nature of gravity and can be used to test fundamental
physics. I will describe how black holes can be used to test our
knowledge of gravity in the most
violent possible scenario, involving collisions at close to the speed
of light and the relation with Cosmic Censorship.
In addition, I will discuss superradiant instabilities in
astrophysical black holes, in the presence of light bosonic fields.
This effect, together with precision measurements of the mass and spin
of massive black holes, has been used to constrain axions and
ultralight scalars, to derive bounds on light vector fields and on the
mass of the graviton, as well as to put intrinsic bounds on magnetic
fields near black holes and on the fraction of primordial black holes
in dark matter. The theoretical potential of these phenomena as
almost-model-independent smoking guns for beyond-Standard Model
physics and modified gravity are presented.