June 10, 2016 8-10PM

Title: Black Holes Don�t Suck
Lecturer: Chiara Mingarelli
Position: Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution: Caltech
Abstract:
Black holes have gained notoriety as dangerous cosmic vacuum cleaners � sucking up everything in their path. I will dispel this myth by guiding you through the weird and wonderful world of black holes. We will learn how to detect a black hole using several techniques: by using the motion of their companion stars to infer the black hole�s presence, or by finding gas that heats up and shines as it falls onto the black hole. But what if there are no stars or gas nearby? We can �listen� to the black holes by searching for gravitational waves � ripples in the fabric of spacetime. After this tour of the black hole landscape, hopefully you will agree that black holes don�t suck!