 |
Center for Nonlinear Studies |
The first simulations of the inspiral and coalescence of binary black holes were carried out almost twenty years ago. With that, numerical relativity transformed into a tool of gravitational astrophysics discovery. It has become an integral component in the characterization of the sources of gravitational waves. Numerical relativity simulations have also unveiled surprises, such as the large gravitational recoil of the black hole produced during binary merges. More recently, numerical relativity codes have experienced increased levels of sophistication in their ability to handle complex multi-physics, as required to study the merger of neutron stars. I will present results from two studies that further demonstrate the power of numerical relativity: one from the merger of black hole-neutron star binaries and the other from binary black hole mergers connected to scalar-tensor theories of gravity.
Bio: Laguna received his bachelor's degree in physics in 1981 from the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitan at Iztapalapa in Mexico City, and his doctoral degree in physics in 1987 from the University of Texas at Austin. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Relativity at the University of Texas at Austin from 1987 to 1989, and a visiting assistant professor at Drexel University from 1989 to 1990. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1990 to 1992. In 1992, he joined the faculty of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1998 and to professor in 2000. He was named associate director of both the Center for Gravitational Wave Physics and the Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry in 2001. In 2008, he became professor in the Schools of Physics and of Computational Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is founding member and first director of the Center for Relativistic Astrophysics at Georgia Tech until 2013 when he became chair of the School of Physics. Laguna was named fellow of the American Physical Society in 2008 and elected to the Mexican Academy of Science in 2007. He received in 2016 the Edward A. Bouchet award from the American Physical Society "for contributions to numerical relativity; in particular, on the simulation of colliding black holes." In 2020, he joined the faculty in the Department of Physics at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also member of the Center for Gravitational Physics in the same department. In 2021, he became chair of the Department of Physics. Laguna is a computational astrophysicist, investigating astrophysical phenomena involving binary systems with black holes and/or neutron stars. These systems provide the ultimate expression of Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Laguna's computational studies are contributing to a new astronomy based on gravitational wave observations.
Zoom Meeting: https://lanl.zoomgov.com/j/1616695862?pwd=Nkw0cE8xWUNDcWlFV1JYb2lpUlpWZz09
Host: Wes Even (T-5) and Hyun Lim (CCS-2)