Fruits of the Universe – A lunch talk with food for body and mind

by Scott Tremaine (Princeton University, USA)

Thursday 21 Nov 2013, 12:30 → 13:00 Europe/Berlin

Foyer, 1st floor (Excellence Cluster Universe)

The final parsec problem of binary supermassive black holes Binary supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, with orbital separations of a few parsecs, are an inevitable consequence of hierarchical models of galaxy formation. Mergers of such binaries produce strong gravitational wave signals and the detection of these signals is one of the primary goals of the proposed eLISA spacecraft. However, straightforward dynamical estimates imply that the merger time for typical black-hole binaries exceeds the Hubble time. Scott Tremaine will review efforts to solve this "final parsec problem" and why he thinks it is not a problem. The audience is cordially invited to discuss and comment. During this 30-minutes lunch event, we will serve drinks and fingerfood.