Astrophysics News & Events

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The spacetime around neutron stars and astrophysical observables

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Speaker
Georgios Pappas (GRIT - CENTRA - IST)
Event date
Venue
GAP room
Event type
Seminars
Abstract: Compact objects in general and neutron stars (NSs) in particular open a window to some of the most extreme physics we can find in nature. On the one hand in the interior of NSs we can find matter in very extreme densities, exceeding nuclear densities and anything we can probe in the laboratory, while on the other hand NSs are related to the strongest gravitational fields next only to those found in black holes. Therefore studying NSs gives us access to both supranuclear densities and strong gravity and can be used to get information and test our theories of matter (equation of state) and gravity. The properties of the structure of NSs are encoded on the spacetime around them and by studying the astrophysical processes that take place around NSs we can map that spacetime.Here we will talk about the properties of NS structure and how they are related to the properties of the spacetime around them. We will also talk about the relation of these properties to astrophysical observables. Finally we will extend our discussion to the case of scalar-tensor theory of gravity.
Strong Gravity
Astrophysics

A journey into a black hole

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Gr@v's Ph.D. student (in collaboration with IST-Lisbon) Pedro Cunha produced a short movie illustrating a voyage into a black hole, and in particular the lensing effects visualized by an observer undergoing such journey. The journalist Catarina Lázaro (voice) and Gr@v researcher C. Herdeiro (scientific advising) collaborated in the movie, which will have a premiere on December 3rd 2016 at "Observatório Geofísico e Astronómico da Universidade de Coimbra".

Strong Gravity
Astrophysics

At the dawn of a new era in astrophysics: Gravitational waves have arrived

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Speaker
Ulrich Sperhake (Cambridge U.)
Event date
Venue
Physics Amphitheatre
Event type
Seminars

Abstract: On 14 September 2016, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-WaveObservatory (LIGO) detected the first gravitational wave signal everdirectly observed. This observation also represents the first directobservation of a black-hole binary and has opened up a qualitatively newwindow to the universe.

Strong Gravity
Astrophysics

Gravitational Lensing and BH Shadows Workshop

workshopshadows2016
In the wake of the detection of gravitational waves from black hole mergers and at the door step of an era of precision electromagnetic observations of the horizon scale for black hole candidates, in particular with the Event Horizon Telescope, the gravitation groups at Aveiro University, Gr@v, and at IST-Lisbon, Grit, will organize a two days workshop on Gravitational Lensing and Black Hole Shadows, held at the University of Aveiro (Portugal), on the 3rd and 4th of November 2016.
Strong Gravity
Astrophysics