Amaldi Research Center Seminars

The quest for low frequency gravitational waves

by Enrico Barausse (Institute d'Astrophysique de Paris)

Europe/Rome
Aula Conversi (Dipartimento di Fisica-Ed. G.Conversi)

Aula Conversi

Dipartimento di Fisica-Ed. G.Conversi

Description
I will review the status of the space-based Laser Interferometer SpaceAntenna (LISA) and its science goals. LISA will detect gravitationalwaves in the frequency range 10^{−4} Hz < f < 1 Hz, a region of the spectrumpopulated by a large variety of astrophysical sources. Among these, amajor role will be played by the mergers of massive black holes, whichLISA will detect up to very large redshift z ~ 10 - 20. I will focus onthe physics of these sources, as well as on how their detection byLISA will shape our understanding of astrophysics, cosmology andfundamental physics.