Institute for Advanced Study/Princeton University Early Universe/Cosmology Lunch Discussion

Gravitational wave observations of strongly gravitating systems allow us not only to probe black holes and neutron stars, but also have the potential to uncover new fundamental physics. Boson stars, a particular representative of a larger class of exotic compact objects, can be used to understand the behavior of these objects in the binary setting and the imprints left on the emitted gravitational wave signal. I will discuss the nonlinear merger dynamics of binary boson stars, present the associated inspiral-merger-ringdown gravitational wave signals, and comment on their detectability.