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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
I will discuss the astrophysical importance of the recent LIGO/Virgo direct detections of gravitational-waves. For 10 BH-BH merger detections new models of isolated classical binary evolution can recover LIGO/Virgo merger rates, BH masses and spins. This still does not exclude other formation channels, and we do not know yet how these BH-BH mergers have formed. However, the recent detection of NS- NS merger in an old elliptical host galaxy cannot be reproduced by any major formation channel. Despite the fact that the exact origin of LIGO/Virgo sources is not yet known, several astrophysical implications are beginning to emerge.
Host: Chris Fryer