Two topics related to gravitational wave astronomy

Professor Shiho Kobayahsi (Liverpool John Moores University)

29 March 2017 3pm

Bell Lecture Theatre

All Staff and Students Welcome

I will discuss two topics related to compact stellar mergers and gravitational waves. 1) One of the most exciting near-term prospects in physics is the detection of gravitational waves from compact stellar mergers including neutron stars (i.e. NS-NS, NS-BH). Such mergers are the leading candidates for short gamma-ray burst progenitors. I consider a possibility that most compact stellar mergers do not produce relativistic jets, and I discuss the implications to gravitational wave astronomy. 2) The existence of black hole binaries (BH-BH) was recently revealed by the gravitational wave detectors LIGO. Their formation process is still unknown or unsettled. I will discuss an interesting formation process of compact BH binaries at galactic centers. Binary stars approaching a massive BH are expected to be tidally disrupted. However, I will show that a good fraction of such encounters produce compact binaries.

Prof. Kobayashi is Professor at Astrophysics Research Institute (ARI) at Liverpool John Moores University. Before joining ARI, he did his PhD study at Tokyo Tech, and postdoc at Osaka, Jerusalem (Hebrew Univ) and Pennsylvania (Penn State).  His research mainly focuses on the hydrodynamics and radiation process of gamma-ray bursts and black hole astrophysics such as hypervelocity stars, tidal disruption events and compact stellar mergers.