Probing strong-field gravity: Black holes and mergers in general relativity and beyond

Leo Stein (Caltech)

RESUMEN: General relativity -Einstein's theory of gravitation- has been studied for more than 100 years. Over the past century, we have learned that the theory agrees with all available experimental and observational tests. At the same time we know that the theory is incomplete, as it leads to inconsistencies when coupled with quantum mechanics. The strong-field regime is our best hope to study GR, both observationally and theoretically, and thus understand how to correct its shortcoming. In this talk, I will discuss investigations in the strong field, including black holes and neutron stars, in GR and theories beyond GR. The main focus will be predicting gravitational waves from merging black holes beyond GR. These predictions will allow for the most rigorous testing of general relativity, using LIGO, in the dynamical strong-field regime.