Foundations of the Theory of Gravitational Waves

9 Oct 2016, 09:00 → 11 Oct 2016, 19:00 Europe/Stockholm

Oscar Klein Auditorium(Mon) and Auditorium FB42 (Tue) (Albanova University Center)

Jean-Pierre Lasota, Juri Poutanen (University of Turku / Nordita), Lars Brink, Marek Abramowicz (Göteborg University), Stephan Rosswog (Stockholm University)

Venue

Nordita, Stockholm, Sweden

The recent detections by the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors of gravitational waves is one of the most important events in the history of science. It is therefore not surprising that gravitational waves are today the focus of attention for both the general public and professionals. There were already many events organized where LIGO's experimental results have been discussed, but none focused on the mathematical foundations of the theory behind the discovery. However, LIGO’s success is not only a triumph of experimental physics and technology; it is also the culmination of a century of work by theorists on mathematical descriptions of gravitational waves.

Nordita (Nordic Institute of Theoretical Physics) organizes a three-day event in Stockholm. The event starts on Sunday, October 9, with the evening lecture by Brian Foster (Oxford University) and Jack Liebeck, internationally acclaimed violinist from Great Britain, on “Musical Einstein” in Riddarhuset. The event continues on Monday and Tuesday with lectures by world leading experts at the Albanova University Center.

The conference is organized by Marek Abramowicz, Lars Brink, Jean-Pierre Lasota, Juri Poutanen and Stephan Rosswog and is supported by Nordita, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences through its Nobel Institute for Physics, the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Polish Society of Relativity.

Lecture and Welcome reception on Sunday, October 9 (starting at 16.00) at Riddarhuset, Riddarhustorget 10 (300 m from Gamla Stan tunnelbana station) [google map]

16:00-17:00 welcome drinks, snacks 17:00-17:30 guided tour of the Riddarhuset 17:30-17:40 Lars Brink (Chalmers): A few words on gravitational waves and Einstein's music 17:40-18:30 Brian Foster (Oxford University) with Jack Liebeck (Royal Academy of Music, UK) on violin: Musical Einstein : a lecture on Einstein's life-long devotion to music 18:30-20:00 Buffet dinner

Program for Monday, October 10 (at Oscar Klein Auditorium, Albanova University Center)

08:45-09:00 Stephan Rosswog (Stockholm University): Welcome 09:00-09:50 Gary Gibbons (Cambridge University): Gravitational waves and fundamental physics 09:50-10:40 Daniel Kennefick (University of Arkansas): The history of the theory of gravitational waves 10:40-11:10 coffee break 11:10-11:25 Andrzej Trautman in a Krzysztof Zanussi film 11:25-12:15 Piotr Chruściel (University of Vienna): Matematical foundations of the theory of gravitational waves 12:15-13:15 Thibault Damour (keynote speaker; Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques): Gravitational waves and analytic relativity 13:15-14:15 lunch 14:30-15:20 Luciano Rezzolla (Goethe University of Frankfurt): Gravitational waves and neutron star mergers 15:20-16:10 Bernd Brügmann (University of Jena): Gravitational waves and black hole mergers 16:10-16:40 coffee break 16:40-17:10 Stephan Rosswog (Stockholm University): Neutron star mergers: what else apart from gravitational waves? 17:10-17:40 Edvard Mörtsell (Stockholm University): Gravitational waves, dark matter and dark energy 17:40-18:10 Fawad Hassan (Stockholm University): Gravitational waves and alternative theories of gravity 18:30-20:00 buffet dinner, poster session 19:50-20:00 Lars Brink (Chalmers): A few final words

Program for Tuesday, October 11 (at Auditorium FB42, Albanova University Center)

09:00-09:30 Andrew King (University of Leicester): Electromagnetic emission from gravitational wave events, and what we might learn 09:30-10:00 Vitor Cardoso (Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal): Gravitational-wave emission from ultra-compact objects 10:00-10:30 Philippe Grandclément (Observatoire de Paris): Boson stars 10:30-11:00 coffee break 11:00-11:30 Scott Hughes (MIT): Testing the black hole hypothesis with gravitational wave observations 11:30-12:00 Gerhard Schäfer (Universität Jena): PN approximation and GW physics 12:00-12:45 Paweł Nurowski (Center for Theor. Physics, Warsaw): Asymptotic behaviour of GW 12:45-14:00 lunch 14:00-15:00 poster session 15:00-15:30 Michele Maggiore (Université de Genève): Stochastic GW Background 15:30-16:00 Alberto Sesana (University of Birmingham): Massive black hole binaries: astrophysics and gravitational waves 16:00-16:30 Petr Hořava (University of California, Berkeley): Quantum gravity and gravitational waves 16:30-17:00 coffee break 17:00-17:30 Luis Lehner (Perimeter Institute): Conference summary 17:30-18:30 final discussion

Monday 10 October

1 Welcome

Speaker: Stephan Rosswog

2 Gravitational waves and fundamental physics

Speaker: Gary Gibbons

3 The history of the theory of gravitational waves

Speaker: Daniel Kennefick

4 Andrzej Trautman in a Krzysztof Zanussi film

5 Matematical foundations of the theory of gravitational waves

Speaker: Piotr Chruściel

6 Gravitational waves and analytic relativity

Speaker: Thibault Damour

7 Gravitational waves and neutron star mergers

Speaker: Luciano Rezzolla

8 Gravitational waves and black hole mergers

Speaker: Bernd Brügmann

9 Neutron star mergers: what else apart from gravitational waves?

Speaker: Stephan Rosswog

10 Gravitational waves, dark matter and dark energy

Speaker: Edvard Mörtsell

11 Gravitational waves and alternative theories of gravity

Speaker: Fawad Hassan

12 Buffet dinner, poster session

13 A few final words

Speaker: Lars Brink

Tuesday 11 October

14 Electromagnetic emission from gravitational wave events, and what we might learn

Speaker: Andrew King

15 Gravitational-wave emission from ultra-compact objects

Speaker: Vitor Cardoso

16 Boson stars

Speaker: Philippe Grandclément

17 Testing the black hole hypothesis with gravitational wave observations

Speaker: Scott Hughes

18 PN approximation and GW physics

Speaker: Gerhard Schäfer

19 Asymptotic behaviour of GW

Speaker: Paweł Nurowski

20 Poster session

21 Stochastic GW Background

Speaker: Michele Maggiore

22 Massive black hole binaries: astrophysics and gravitational waves

Speaker: Alberto Sesana

23 Quantum gravity and gravitational waves

Speaker: Petr Hořava

24 Conference summary

Speaker: Luis Lehner

25 Final discussion