GR or not GR? Testing General Relativity through gravitational wave observations

by Dr Giulia Pagano (INFN Sezione di Pisa)

Thursday 17 Jan 2019, 14:30 → 15:30 Europe/Rome

500 (Dip.to di Fisica Universita' di Genova)

General Relativity is up to now the most satisfying theory of gravity. Among its predictions, gravitational waves played a key role in unveiling the mysteries of our Universe, opening a window on the last moments of compact binary coalescences. As general relativistic objects, coalescing binary systems of black holes and neutron stars provide a laboratory to test Einstein's theory which was inaccessible until gravitational waves' detection. After an introduction to gravitational waves, I will discuss the tests of General Relativity performed by the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations, with an emphasis on gravitational wave data analysis. I will then review results inferred from public detections and present future perspectives.

talk_Genova.pdf