Talk by Alberto Sesana

This weeks DARK Cake Talk given by Alberto Sesana, University of Birmingham.
Title: Listening to the Universe with gravitational waves

Abstract: Predicted for the first time 100 ago, gravitational waves have finally been detected by LIGO last year. After a brief introduction of the gravitational wave concept and of the most promising astrophysical sources, I will shortly talk about the LIGO detection and its implications for the field of gravitational wave astronomy. I will then expand the discussion to the low frequency realm introducing supermassive black holes and the prospect of detection with eLISA and pulsar timing arrays (PTAs).