Princeton University Gravity Initiative Fall Seminar Series

Abstract: With the commencement of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration’s fourth observing run, the field of gravitational wave (GW) physics is uniquely poised to collect even more precise data from compact binary mergers. Consequently, we will soon be able to perform even more stringent tests of general relativity (GR), which could reveal revolutionary inconsistencies. Performing such tests, however, requires that our understanding of GR and GWs is reliable. And, while there are many tools for unraveling Einsteins’ equations, the only one that is robust in every regime of GR is numerical relativity (NR). In this talk, I will discuss some recent advances in NR that have led to us having a better understanding of GR and GWs. Specifically, I will highlight how a more robust computation of waveform observables and a careful treatment of asymptotic symmetries have revealed a plethora of nonlinear physics that can be used to test GR and perhaps even probe the nature of quantum gravity.