An introduction to gravitational wave physics

This course aims to give a general introduction to gravitational wave physics. In the first third of the course, theoretical aspects of gravitational waves like common waveform models or quasi-normal modes are introduced. Astronomical aspects like the formation of gravitational wave sources or the information we can get from the source are discussed in the second third. The last third covers different aspects of detection and data analysis in gravitational wave astronomy. At the end of the course, participants will have acquired the knowledge to understand the benefits gravitational wave astronomy can have for physics as well as judge the value of recent results in the field. Some basic understanding of physics and a mathematical background in differential geometry and function theory are helpful but not mandatory.

20th February ~ 12th June, 2025

Weekday	Time	Venue	Online	ID	Password
Thursday	14:20 - 16:55	A3-2-201	ZOOM 01	928 682 9093	BIMSA

Basics in physics, background in differential geometry and function theory are helpful

Theory:
(Linearized) Einstein equations
Gravitational wave equations
Peters' formula and gravitational wave modes
Quasi-normal modes
Waveform models

Astronomy:
Classes of gravitational wave sources
Environment and formation of gravitational wave sources
Environmental effects
Direct observables from gravitational waves
Multi-messenger astronomy

Detection and data analysis:
Gravitational wave detectors
Matched filtering
Environmental effects in data analysis
Standard sirens

M. Maggiore: Gravitational Waves Vol. 1 (2008) and Vol. 2 (2018)
C. Bambi, S. Katsanevas, and K.D. Kokkotas: Handbook of Gravitational Wave Astronomy (2021)

Advanced Undergraduate , Graduate , Postdoc , Researcher

No

English

Alejandro Torres Orjuela obtained his Physics Bachelor's degree from the Free University of Berlin (Germany) and his Physics Master's degree as well as his Bachelor's and Master's degree in Mathematics from the Technical University of Berlin (Germany). Later, he moved to China to do his Ph.D. in Astrophysics at Peking University where he worked with Prof. Xian Chen and Prof. Pau Amaro Seoane from 2017 to 2021. After his Ph.D., Alejandro moved to the TianQin Center at Sun Yat-Sen University in Zhuhai (China) where he worked for two years as a PostDoc in the Theoretical Study group led by Prof. Jianwei Mei. In 2023 and 2024 Alejandro took a position as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Hong Kong where he was part of Prof. Lixin Jane Dai's group. In November 2024 Alejandro joined BIMSA as an Assistant Professor in the "Mathematical Physics and General Relativity" group. Alejandro works on different aspects of gravitational wave astronomy with a particular focus on the effect of the environment on gravitational wave detection with two major goals: understanding how environmental effects impact - and potential bias - detection and how these effects can be used to study the environment of the source. His research further includes gravitational wave sources with electromagnetic counterparts and their use as standard sirens to measure the expansion of the universe. Alejandro's studies involve different kinds of gravitational wave detectors across the spectrum with a particular focus on space-based detectors TianQin and LISA in the mHz band, atom interferometry detectors in the dHz band, and kHz detectors LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA.