Public Lecture
Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics Public Lecture Series
New Science from Merging Neutron Stars
From the generation of gold to the expansion rate of the Universe: With the detection of compact binary coalescences and their electromagnetic counterparts by gravitational-wave detectors, a new era of multi-messenger astronomy has begun. In this talk, Professor Coughlin will describe how GW170817, our first example in this new class, is being used to study a diverse variety of dense matter in the Universe and how fast the Universe is expanding. He will then discuss how we are using telescopes to look for more of them and developing models to test what we find. Professor Coughlin will close with future prospects for this new field.
