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- Seminars and Workshops
- Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Location
R1107 of the Astronomy-Mathematics Building, National Taiwan University
- Speaker Name
Daniel Braumann (University of Amsterdam)
- State
Definitive
- Url
Gravitational Collider Physics
2022-05-13 12:00 - 13:30
Black holes are generally thought to swallow all forms of matter and energy surrounding them, but it has long been known that they can also shed off some of their mass through a process called superradiance. This phenomenon is only effective if new particles with very low mass exist in Nature, as predicted by several theories beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. The shredded mass would end up forming a large "cloud" around the black hole, creating a system called a "gravitational atom".
In this talk, I will discuss the interesting effects that occur when such gravitational atoms are part of binary systems. In particular, I will show that the presence of a massive companion induces resonant transitions between bound states and also triggers transitions from bound to unbound states of the cloud -- a process that we refer to as "ionization" in analogy with the photoelectric effect in atomic physics. I will describe that the backreaction on the binary's orbit leads to characteristic signatures in the emitted gravitational waves.
In this talk, I will discuss the interesting effects that occur when such gravitational atoms are part of binary systems. In particular, I will show that the presence of a massive companion induces resonant transitions between bound states and also triggers transitions from bound to unbound states of the cloud -- a process that we refer to as "ionization" in analogy with the photoelectric effect in atomic physics. I will describe that the backreaction on the binary's orbit leads to characteristic signatures in the emitted gravitational waves.
