Gravity seminar - Swetha Bhagwat Seminar

Event details

Title: Ringdown Amplitudes in Precessing Binary Black Hole Mergers

Abstract: In this talk, I will focus on the ringdowns of binary black hole mergers. I will begin with a brief overview of traditional tests of GR performed using ringdowns, followed by a discussion on the excitation amplitudes of different modes and their significance. I will provide a short status update on the current understanding and then turn to one of my recent studies of mode amplitudes in the ringdowns of precessing binary black hole mergers. I will discuss how precession fundamentally alters the amplitude hierarchy and excitation patterns compared to aligned-spin mergers, where a large number of modes can be excited.  I will present a new Gaussian process regression fits that, for the first time, predict ringdown amplitudes across the precessing parameter space. Finally, I will conclude with a discussion on what is needed to improve the accuracy of these fits.