Christmas Lecture 2022 @ Bologna Astrophysics Campus: “The Low Frequency Gravitational Universe”, Prof. Monica Colpi

Students are warmly invited to attend the Bologna Astrophysics Campus 2022 "Christmas Lecture" organised by INAF Bologna (OAS, IRA) and by the Bologna University (DIFA). The Lecture will be held on: Wednesday December 21, at 11.30 am — Plenary Hall — CNR research Area 

The Lecture will be also broadcasted in streaming at https://inaf-it.zoom.us/j/83701776211.

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Title: The Low Frequency Gravitational Universe

Prof. Monica Colpi —  University of Milano Bicocca 

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will extend the hunt for gravitational wave events to the hitherto unexplored frequency interval between 0.1 and 100 mHz, anticipated to be the richest in variety of sources.  LISA will detect gravitational waves from Milky-Way-like massive black holes   out to redshifts as high a 𝑧

 ∼ 20, the long-duration inspiral of stellar black holes around massive black holes, the early inspiral of stellar black hole binaries and the nearly monochromatic signal emitted by a myriad of ultra compact binaries, mostly double white dwarfs in the Milky Way, as single sources and as an unresolved foreground. LISA promises a quantum leap in knowledge of the ”astrophysical” black holes lurking at the centres of galaxies and advances in understanding their formation and evolution histories. LISA can answer in a unique way  a number of challenging questions on massive black holes:  Are they Kerr?  How do their masses and spins evolve with cosmic time? Is there a fil rouge connecting the stellar and the massive black holes, rooted in the physics of gravitational collapse? Can we detect “light” during a massive black hole merger? And if so, what can we learn about gas  accretion in dynamical, violently changing spacetimes?

Monica Colpi  (MC) is Full Professor of Astrophysics at the Department of Physics G. Occhialini of the University of Milano Bicocca. MC received her Ph.D. Degree in Physics from the University of Milano in 1987, and entered the academic career after being first post-doctoral fellow at Cornell University and later at the International School for Advanced Studies.  MC has broad research interests in the areas of stellar dynamics, high energy astrophysics and general relativity theory, and works on neutron stars, and black holes of all mass scales, both as electromagnetic and gravitational wave sources.  Recently, MC has been pioneering the field of massive black hole binary formation in gas-rich galaxy mergers, target sources of low frequency gravitational waves. Her interests  further extend to  the first black holes, serving as seeds for the rapid growth of the reionization-era quasars.  MC is currently working on the development of the science objectives of the space mission LISA , acronym of “Laser Interferometer Space Antenna”, selected by ESA as “flag-ship mission” in 2017.  After the discovery of the first coalescence of two neutron stars by the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations and of its  joint electromagnetic transient, she is coordinating studies on the emerging Multi-Messenger Astrophysics and on the synergies between LISA, Einstein Telescope and future electromagnetic facilities.  MC  plays roles of coordination within the LISA Consortium and serves the SSAC and LISA SST of ESA. She is internationally recognised as a mentor.  MC was recently awarded  as a corresponding member of the Accademia dei Lincei.