09:35 AM - 10:15 AM (40 min)
Masha Okounkova (Flatiron Institute)
Abstract: Einstein’s theory of general relativity is a beautiful classical theory of gravity, but nature isn’t classical. In order to fully describe the physics of the Universe, we need to reconcile general relativity (GR) with quantum mechanics in a theory of gravity beyond general relativity. Could we see beyond-GR physics with astrophysical observations? While weaker regimes of gravity have long been studied through observations of the solar system, stars, and galaxies, systems such as binary black hole and neutron star mergers probe the extreme regime of gravity, where spacetime is most highly non-linear, distorted, and dynamical, at the potential edge of Einstein’s theory.
These dynamical spacetimes emit gravitational waves, ripples in space and time, which are detected by instruments like LIGO and Virgo. The waves carry information about the extreme regime of gravity around their sources including, potentially, information about the ways these spacetimes differ from those predicted by GR. In this talk, I will discuss my work in using current and future gravitational wave observations to detect and constrain beyond-GR physics, putting Einstein’s theory to the test.