Speaker
Tony Piro
Description
Even though we know that stellar mass black holes exist both
from those found in our Galaxy and gravitational wave
observations, the actual events that give rise to them is
poorly understood. Furthermore, the transition between these
black holes and neutron stars have important implications
for the elusive high density equation of state. I will
discuss two avenues for investigating the boundary between
the formation of black holes and neutron stars: (1) the
electromagnetic events that may accompany massive stars that
die as black holes rather than neutron stars, and (2) the
signatures when two merging neutron stars form a massive
neutron star rather than a black hole. As transient surveys
cover the sky with increasingly short cadences and
gravitational wave observatories probe lower masses, the
complementary information between these investigations will
help us explore these equations.
