Finding Black Holes that Should Not Exist: From Earth, Space and the Moon

Speaker: Dr. Karan Jani, Vanderbilt University

Abstract: Recent gravitational-wave observations have confirmed previously unknown populations of black hole. These black holes challenge our sacred ideas of how stars die. In this talk, I will review what we can learn about such black holes this decade with the LIGO gravitational-wave network on the Earth. In the next decade, with ESA and NASA space mission LISA, I would describe a new method of 'Multi-band Astrophysics' for probing General Relativity and the origins of such black holes. I would conclude by making a case for cosmology with these black holes as a science case for humanity's return to the Moon.