Albert Einstein and the zombie stars, a talk by Professor Nils Andersson (University of Southampton)
Abstract
The breakthrough detection of gravitational waves from merging black holes in 2015 sent ripples of excitement through the scientific community and led to the recent award of the Nobel Prize in Physics. The observation confirmed Albert Einstein’s 100-year old prediction and provided further support of his curved-space/warped-time theory of gravity. The follow-up observation of colliding neutron stars in August 2017 – an event that was seen across the electromagnetic spectrum – engaged a large part of the international astronomy community. What made this event so exciting? Why did it take the best part of a century to detect the gravitational waves in the first place? What are they, anyway? The answers to these – and many other – questions will be revealed in this entertaining journey through Einstein’s wonky universe.
No charge is made to attend meetings; non-IMA members are welcome.
