Host: Dr. Surabhi Sachdev

Title: Searching for the unexpected: gravitational waves, ringdown, and the origins of black hole binaries 

Abstract:
We are a decade into the era of gravitational wave astronomy, which has revealed an otherwise invisible side of the Universe. To date we have detected bursts of gravitational waves from hundreds of merging binaries containing black holes and neutron stars. Gravitational waves provide avenues to search for new physics and to reveal the unknown formation channels of the binaries that produce them. I will first review the latest results from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaborations. I will then briefly discuss three avenues to search for the unexpected using gravitational waves: direct searches for exotic objects, targeted searches new physics using black hole ring down, and evidence that a subset of massive binary black holes are rapidly spinning.