Title:Â What can gravitational wave detectors tell us about nuclear and particle physics?
Speaker:Â Peter Shawhan (U. of Maryland)
Abstract: LIGO and other large gravitational-wave detectors have now detected signals from over 100 merging binary black hole systems, and from a few merging binary neutron star systems. Along with testing the fundamental physics of gravity (GR), I will point out the ways in which these observations are providing information about nuclear and particle astrophysics. I will also summarize searches for ultralight boson states that could be revealed through distinctive gravitational wave emission or through direct interaction with gravitational-wave detectors.