Events

Event Information:

• Tue

  28

  Mar

  2017

  Colloquium: Searching for Smoking Gun Effects of Modified Gravity in Supernova Core Collapse

  4:00 pmLewis 101

  Ulrich Sperhake
  Theoretical Astrophysics
  California Institute of Technology

  Searching for Smoking Gun Effects of Modified Gravity in Supernova Core Collapse

  Even though Einstein's theory of general relativity has been an incredibly successful theory and passed a plethora of tests ranging from light bending to the recent detection of gravitational waves, there are indications from theory, astrophysics and cosmology that modifications to the theory may ultimately be required. One of the most popular modifications applied to general relativity is the addition of a scalar field as an extra channel to mediate gravity. Through the introduction of additional degrees of freedom such scalar-tensor theories may explain some of the potentially troublesome phenomena in gravity while preserving compatibility with solar system and other tests. In this talk we explore the dynamics and gravitational wave emission of supernova core collapse in scalar tensor theory for the case of spherical symmetry. We analyse the resulting waveforms and explore under which conditions they may provide smoking gun signals detectable with present and future gravitational-wave detectors.