Special TAPIR Seminar

In person: 370 Cahill. To Join via Zoom: 868 5298 8404

ABSTRACT: When, where, and how compact binaries form is still a mystery, and observations from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA detectors are starting to shed light on this. In this talk, I will discuss ways of probing host environments of these binaries. First, I will show how the redshift evolution of the binary black hole merger rate can be used to constrain the parameter space of the host galaxies of such mergers, also discussing how assumptions on the nature of host galaxies impact measurements of cosmological parameters. Then, I will discuss how a nonzero centre-of-mass motion affects the observed signal in our detectors, and how one can differentiate between candidate host environments by measurements of this motion. I will end with some prospects along these lines for the future.