Vitor Cardoso: Gravitational wave as probes of fundamental physics

by Vitor Cardoso

Tuesday 21 Apr 2020, 11:00 → 13:00 Europe/Zurich

CERN

Gravitational waves offer a unique glimpse into the unseen universe in different ways, and allow us to test the basic tenets of General Relativity, some of which have been taken for granted without observations: are gravitons massless? Are black holes the simplest possible macroscopic objects? do event horizons and black holes really exist, or is their formation halted by some as-yet unknown mechanism? Do singularities arise in our universe as the outcome of violent collisions? Can gravitational waves carry information about the nature of the elusive dark matter? I will describe some of the fundamental issues that one is able to address with the detection of gravitational waves, and some of the oustanding challenges.

Recording