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Welcome to the Black Holes and Gravitational Waves course page.
Black holes are among the most unique objects in the Universe from a theoretical and observational perspective. Their study promises to deepen our understanding about gravity, its connection with other fundamental forces and its role in the formation and evolution of the cosmos. Black holes are nowadays also a central piece of the astronomical program from the imaging of the Event Horizon Telescope to the gravitational waves detected by LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA.
In this course we will explore the fundamentals of black hole theory and their observational evidence. We will then focus on gravitational wave radiation from the coalescence of compact binaries. The goal of the course is to set the stage for students to understand the basis and open questions of black hole theory and gravitational wave observations.
This course is designed for master and graduate students. Previous knowledge of General Relativity, for example attending the General Relativity and Cosmology course in Block 2, is a prerequisite.
Room: Auditorium C
| Day | Type | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Lecture | 10:00 - 12:00 |
| Thursday | Lecture | 13:00 - 15:00 |
| Exercise session | 15:00 - 17:00 |
| Week | Date | Time | Lecturer | Topic | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | Tuesday 23 April | 10:00 - 12:00 | Van de Meent | Causal structure and Penrose diagrams | Lecture Notes |
| Thursday 25 April | 13:00 - 15:00 | Van de Meent | Penrose diagram of a Kerr black hole | Lecture Notes | |
| Thursday 25 April | 15:00 - 17:00 | Van de Meent | Exercise Sheet 1 | ||
| 18 | Tuesday 30 April | 10:00 - 12:00 | Van de Meent | Kerr Geodesics | Week 2 notes |
| Thursday 2 May | 13:00 - 15:00 | Van de Meent | Kerr Geodesics (Continued) | (Expanded lecture notes coming soon.) | |
| Thursday 2 May | 15:00 - 17:00 | Van de Meent | Exercise sheet 2 | ||
| 19 | Tuesday 7 May | 10:00 - 12:00 | Van de Meent | Black hole perturbations | Week 3 notes |
| Thursday 9 May | Public Holiday | ||||
| 20 | Tuesday 14 May | 10:00 - 12:00 | Van de Meent | The Teukolsky equation | Week 4 notes |
| Thursday 16 May | 13:00 - 15:00 | Van de Meent | Quasinormal modes | ||
| Thursday 16 May | 15:00 - 17:00 | Van de Meent | Questions / round-up part 1 | ||
| Friday 17 May | Noon | Van de Meent | Hand-in sheet 1 | Hand-in Sheet 1 due | |
| 21 | Tuesday 21 May | 10:00 - 12:00 | Ezquiaga | Gravitational collapse. Deriving TOV eqs. | Lecture Notes Sec. 1.1 |
| Thursday 23 May | 13:00 - 15:00 | Ezquiaga | Chandrasekhar limit, white dwarfs and neutron stars. Evidence of BHs. Gravitational lensing by a BH | Sec. 1.2, 1.3 | |
| Thursday 23 May | 15:00 - 17:00 | Ezquiaga | Oppenheimer–Snyder model + | ||
| 22 | Tuesday 28 May | 10:00 - 12:00 | Ezquiaga | GW general properties + Derivation quadrupole formula | Sec. 2.1 |
| Thursday 30 May | 13:00 - 15:00 | Ezquiaga | GWs from circular binary | Sec. 2.2 | |
| Thursday 30 May | 15:00 - 17:00 | Ezquiaga | Radiative degrees of freedom + | ||
| 23 | Tuesday 4 June | 10:00 - 12:00 | Ezquiaga | GW prop curved backgrounds + cosmo prop | Sec. 3.1-2 |
| Thursday 6 June | 13:00 - 15:00 | Ezquiaga | Gravitational lensing | Sec. 3.3 | |
| Thursday 6 June | 15:00 - 17:00 | Ezquiaga | Curved prop + discussion Hand-in Sheet 1 | ||
| 24 | Tuesday 11 June | 10:00 - 12:00 | Ezquiaga | GW detectors + matched filtering | Sec. 4.1 + 4.2.1 |
| Thursday 13 June | 13:00 - 15:00 | Ezquiaga | Parameter estimation + population analyses | 4.2.2 + 4.2.3 | |
| Thursday 13 June | 15:00 - 17:00 | Ezquiaga | Q.A. | ||
| Friday 14 June | Noon | Ezquiaga | Hand-in Sheet 2 due | ||
| 25 | Monday 17 June | Noon | Exam | Take home exam available | |
| Thursday 20 June | Noon | Take home exam due |
- Maarten van de Meent, Office 02-2-Cc12, E-mail: [email protected]
- Jose Maria Ezquiaga, Office 02-2-Cc11, E-mail: [email protected]
The course will be evaluated based on two hand in exercise sheets due at the end of each 4 week sub-block. And a take home exam in week 25. The relative weight of each in the final grade will be 20% for each of the hand-in sheets and 60% for the take home exam.
The lecture notes are available here. (These notes are a work in progress and will be updated as the course progresses.)
In addition we will be referring to several sources from additional reading:
- "General Relativity and Cosmology", Lecture Notes by Troels Harmark
- Harvey Reall's, Lecture Notes on Black Holes
- Robert Wald, "General Relativity"
- Sean M. Carroll, "Spacetime and Geometry" , based on these lecture notes.
- Michele Maggiore, "Gravitational Waves"
- James Hartle, "Gravity"