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Weinberg Institute Tuesday Seminars

Weinberg Seminar - Dr. Aditya Vijaykumar

Dr. Aditya Vijaykumar

Nov

11

2025

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Cost: Free

In Person (view details)

Title: Gravitational wave observations as astrophysical probes

Description

Abstract: In the ten years since the first GW detection, the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA detectors have amassed around 200 compact binary mergers. In this talk, I will describe how these compact binaries can be used as astrophysical probes. I will begin with an overview of the latest public catalog of compact binaries, GWTC-4.0. I will then describe how we use this catalog to learn about astrophysical distributions of compact binaries, highlighting a hallmark feature of GW astronomy: our ability to model selection effects (the GW analogue of the Malmquist bias) accurately and precisely. I will next summarize what the current catalog tells us about the demographics and formation pathways of compact binaries. If time permits, I will also discuss how subtle signatures of center-of-mass acceleration in the waveform can reveal the astrophysical environments in which these binaries reside.

Bio: Aditya Vijaykumar is a postdoctoral fellow at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) in Toronto. He received his PhD in Physics from the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS). His doctoral thesis on wide-ranging aspects of gravitational waves received best thesis awards from both the Astronomical Society of India and the Indian Association for General Relativity and Gravitation. In the final year of his PhD, Aditya was a Fulbright–Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Chicago. His research spans theoretical, astrophysical, and data-analysis aspects of gravitational-wave sources.

Location

PMA 9.222

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