The Lamb lecture 2026: 'Black Hole Collisions: The Extreme Side of Gravity'
Guest speaker: Prof. Frans Pretorius, Princeton University
This is a public event and everyone is welcome to attend.
Abstract:
The LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave detectors have ushered in a new era of gravitational wave astronomy. Many signals have now been observed, the majority of them consistent with those expected from the collision of two black holes. These gravitational waves come from the most extreme regions of strong gravity we know of, and are providing the first direct evidence that black hole, as described by Einstein's theory of general relativity, actually exist. In this talk I will explain the basics of compact object collisions and gravitational waves, and how we are able to interpret the LIGO/Virgo signals as originating from these cataclysmic events.
Staff and students could also attend Professor Pretorius' two technical lectures:
- 19 October: The Ultra-Relativistic Limit of Black Hole Collisions
- 20 October: Approaching Black Hole Extremality
For more details, contact wykehamea@physics.ox.ac.uk
The Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics at Oxford is hosts an annual series of lectures: the Willis Lamb Lectures in Theoretical Physics. Willis E. Lamb Jr, Nobel Prize in Physics 1955, was Wykeham Professor at Oxford from 1956-1962.