The Physics department colloquia are usually on Friday afternoons at 3 pm in Room 135. Coffee and cookies are served at 2:45 pm in the same room. Anyone is welcome.

The Two-Body Problem a Century After Einstein
Dr. Bangalore S. Sathyaprakash, School of Physics & Astronomy, Cardiff University

The two-body problem is exactly solvable in Newtonian gravity but no such solution exists in Einstein’s theory of gravity. It is necessary to employ approximate methods and numerical simulations to understand the two-body dynamics. The past three decades have seen remarkable progress in Einstein’s theory of gravity which have helped unearth a lot of interesting effects.

In this talk I will examine recent advances and future challenges in understanding the dynamics of binary black holes and neutron stars, and how observation of gravitational waves from such systems can impact our insight into fundamental physics, astrophysics and cosmology.