The universe is permeated by gravitational waves that originate from a diverse array of astrophysical and cosmological sources. These waves collectively form the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB), the characterization of which is a major goal for numerous planned and ongoing missions, such as LIGO, Virgo, NANOGrav, and LISA. The waves comprising the SGWB are absorbed by stars...
Extreme tidal disruption events (eTDEs) are a new type of tidal disruption event (TDE) with a very different observational signature from regular ones. In eTDEs, the disruption takes place just outside the event horizon, where relativistic gravity leads to dramatic effects. Unlike ordinary TDEs, in which the star (and post-disruption, its center-of-mass) follows a parabolic orbit, in eTDEs,...
Primordial black holes (PBHs) form from large-amplitude initial density fluctuations and may comprise some or all of the dark matter. If PBHs have a broadly extended mass spectrum, or in mixed PBH-particle dark matter scenarios, the extreme density fluctuations necessary to produce PBHs also lead to the formation of a much greater abundance of dark matter minihalos that could form even before...
We introduce the Resolve method, a Bayesian approach for radio-interferometry that employs Variational Inference and Gaussian Processes. This method enables robust uncertainty quantification and advanced multi-domain imaging, essential for black hole studies. We demonstrate Resolve's effectiveness by confirming the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration's results on the supermassive black...
One of the main uncertainties in understanding the pathway of stars becoming gravitational-wave sources according to the isolated binary channel are binary interaction physics. Important constraints, such as on the mass-transfer efficiency or the spin-up of the mass-gaining star, that determine the future evolution of the system, are lacking. Those can be provided by detecting and...
I give a heuristic overview of the emission of radiation by black holes when quantum effects are taken into account---the "Hawking effect". I shall not work through any particular derivation of the effect in detail, as the rough, intuitive ones tend to be badly misleading, and the precise, rigorous ones are too technically demanding given the constraints of this talk. I shall rather sketch...
Microlensing is currently the only observational method to detect isolated stellar mass black holes. However, microlensing light curve alone does not allow to disentangle the mass from the distance to the lens. Astrometric follow up of microlensing using HST has recently produced the first tangible isolated BH mass measurement, but at a large observational cost. We argue the recently...
