Dartmouth Events

Abstract: Recent breakthroughs in gravitational wave and electromagnetic observations have given better and better insights into black holes and the nature of extreme gravity. While one usually thinks of black holes as the unyielding final state of gravitational collapse, there are several features of black holes, and ultracompact objects more generally, that bring them perilously close to instability, with the black hole's horizon playing a crucial stabilizing role. In this talk, I will describe how the absence of a horizon in ultracompact objects generically leads to new instabilities, and review some recent progress in understanding their ultimate fate. I will also discuss how the stability of spinning black holes itself depends on the existence of ultralight fields, allowing black holes to serve as sensitive probes of hypothetical dark particles. Understanding the nonlinear development of these instabilities enables us to use strong-gravity observations to test the black hole paradigm and search for new physics.

Hosted by Professor Robert Caldwell 

Zoom Webinar Link: https://dartmouth.zoom.us/j/91888702369?pwd=aUlaVEFYNGZHNlZWL0R3cEVWQXg4UT09