Parallel sessions

The last five years have seen the emergence of gravitational-wave astronomy as a leading research field in astronomy. During the first three observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo, over fifty observations of compact binary mergers were made. The observation of the binary neutron star GW170817 was a particular highlight. This event, observed jointly with gravitational-wave and electromagnetic observatories, has revolutionized our understanding of such systems. In addition, observations of a compact object with a mass of 2.7 solar masses (GW190814) and a compact object merger with a combined mass of 160 solar masses (GW190521) have posed serious questions about how such objects form. With additional results expected to be published before NAM2021, we will discuss and present the latest highlights of gravitational-wave astronomy.

Collectively, these observations have allowed us to start measuring the black hole mass and spin distribution, perform precision tests of General Relativity, probe the internal structure of neutron stars, make an independent measurement of Hubble’s constant and confirm that short gamma-ray bursts are powered by neutron star mergers. Advanced LIGO and Virgo are now working on upgrades in preparation for their fourth observing run, joint with the new KAGRA observatory in Japan. Despite these successes in recent years, there is a broad area of research focused on improving our ability to observe and characterize gravitational-wave signals both in terms of improving the sensitivity of the gravitational-wave observatories and in developing the methods and models necessary to reliably extract and characterize gravitational-wave signals in the Advanced LIGO and Virgo data.

In this session we will discuss the latest results from the third observing run of the advanced gravitational-wave detector network and discuss innovations that will improve the ability to observe and understand sources in the future. Talks are welcome from all relevant areas.

Schedule:

09:00 Vaibhav Tiwari “Gravitational Wave Catalog GWTC-2: New Observations and Novel Results”
09:30 Christopher Berry “Revealing the secret lives of binary black holes”
09:42 Ronaldas Macas “Do glitches in gravitational-wave data affect our ability to estimate the correct sky localization?”
09:54 Fabian Gittins “Modelling neutron-star mountains”
10:06 Oliver Edy “The Issues of Mismodelling Gravitational-Wave Data for Parameter Estimation”
10:18 Eliot Finch “Modelling the ringdown from precessing black hole binaries”