GW@10 - a series of talks

Gravitational Wave Astronomy

Speaker: Professor Juan Garcia-Bellido (IFT-UAM Madrid, Spain)

Date and time
Venue
Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium

Abstract

Ten years ago a laser interferometer detected, for the first time in history, a gravitational wave from a distant cataclysmic event associated with the merging of two massive black holes, GW150914. The power emitted in a few milliseconds by that single event is equivalent to 50 times the power of all stars in the observable universe combined. Nowadays we have detected around 300 events similar to GW150914 and a new era has just begun, that of Gravitational Wave Astronomy. With the help of a network of laser interferometers in the USA, Europe, Japan and India, we can locate sources within one square degree in the sky, out to distances billions of light years away. These exquisite and delicate detectors open a new window into the universe, where space-time ripples rather than light (electromagnetic waves) bring us complementary information, and will help us understand the origin and evolution of our universe. I will review the recent gravitational wave detections and how their properties are questioning our understanding of the nature of dark matter and the present rate of expansion of the universe.
 

Poster
Poster

Short Biography
Juan García-Bellido is Full Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and member of the CSIC Institute of Theoretical Physics (IFT), a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence in Madrid. He has worked in cutting-edge areas such as Cosmological Inflation, Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, Gravitational Waves, Dark Energy and Dark Matter. Founding member of international collaborations in the field of extra-galactic surveys (DES, PAU, DESI, Euclid, LSST), and gravitational wave experiments (Virgo, LISA, ET). Principal Investigator of 30+ competitive national and international research projects. He has supervised 18 PhDs at the IFT-UAM, several of his students now occupy high positions in prestigious European research centers. He is a member of the Editorial Board of 3 international journals in the field. He has organized 30+ international conferences and is co-founder of 4 series of conferences, as well as project evaluator for the main American, European and Asian scientific agencies. Director of the Department of Phenomenology and Cosmology of the IFT and member of the Governing Council of UAM. Recognized scientific disseminator, with conferences at the Residencia de Estudiantes, Madrid’s Planetarium and Ateneum, Ramón Areces Foundation and with high-impact videos on the IFT YouTube channel. He was the Spanish representative in the Committee on Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (ApPEC), and in ASTRONET – Science Vision of European Astronomy for 2015-2025. He was elected member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Spain, Counselor of the Gadea Foundation for Science, and awarded the National Research Prize “Blas Cabrera” (Physical Sciences) of 2025.