Paul Lasky (Monash University)

Paul Lasky colloquium: Gravitational-wave astronomy in the age of multiple detections

Abstract

Advanced LIGO has now observed three bona fide gravitational-wave events from the mergers of stellar-mass black holes. In the coming years, this number will grow significantly. I will describe some of the many things we can do with these future observations, including performing fundamental tests of general relativity, understanding the formation mechanism of binary black holes, and measuring permanent deformations of spacetime.