Thursday, September 26, 2024, 16:00
WHGA Auditorium
Steven Schramm, Genève University
Abstract:
The discovery of gravitational waves, first observed in September 2015
following the merger of a pair of black holes, has already
revolutionised our understanding of the Universe. This individual signal
has been followed by the observation of several other mergers per year,
indicating that sources of gravitational waves are not isolated
rarities, but rather represent a new window on the Universe. The current
generation of gravitational-wave instruments have reached the required
sensitivity to observe the most striking events, but they are limited to
very energetic phenomena that occur in relatively close proximity to the
Earth. The proposed next generation of ground-based gravitational-wave
observatories, such as the Einstein Telescope in Europe, will
dramatically increase the sensitivity: they will target both
more-distant and less-energetic mergers, with the number of observations
of gravitational wave signals expected to increase to roughly 100'000
per year. Such a change would redefine the scientific potential of
gravitational waves, and open up exciting new possibilities to learn
about the physics of our Universe - including particle physics.