Deirdre Shoemaker  (Georgia Institute of Technology)  

Numerical Relativity and Gravitational Waves

Gravitational waves deliver information in exquisite detail about astrophysical phenomena, among them the collision of two black holes, a system completely invisible to the eyes of electromagnetic telescopes. Models that predict gravitational wave signals from likely sources are crucial for the success of this endeavor. Modeling sources of gravitational radiation requires solving the Einstein equations of General Relativity using powerful computer hardware and sophisticated numerical algorithms. This talk presents where we are in understanding ground-based gravitational waves resulting from the merger of black holes and the implications of these sources for the advent of gravitational-wave astronomy.