Astrophysical Sciences and Technology Colloquium: Leveraging Numerical Relativity and Data-Driven Models for Gravitational Wave Astronomy
Astrophysical Sciences and Technology Colloquium
Leveraging Numerical Relativity and Data-Driven Models for Gravitational Wave Astronomy
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Dr. Vijay Varma
Assistant Professor, Mathematics
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Event Details: Numerical relativity simulations play a central role in gravitational-wave astronomy, as they are the only means to solve Einstein’s equations near the mergers of black holes and neutron stars and predict the gravitational wave signal. However, these simulations are too expensive for directly analyzing the signals observed by detectors like LIGO. I will talk about data-driven surrogate models that efficiently interpolate between simulations, bringing the evaluation time down from months to a fraction of a second. These models rival the simulations themselves in accuracy and bring the power of numerical relativity to gravitational wave applications ranging from black hole astrophysics to tests of general relativity. I will discuss how surrogate models are already enabling precision astrophysics, such as extracting recoil velocities from black hole mergers and improved spin measurements. Finally, I will discuss the crucial role such machine learning inspired models will play in realizing the science potential of future observatories like LISA and Cosmic Explorer.
Bio: Vijay Varma is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth working on numerical relativity and machine learning gravitational wave models.
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