Together with my students Mark Ho-Yeuk Cheung and Sophia Yi, we just published an article in Physics Today on How black hole spectroscopy can put general relativity to the test.
Einstein’s theory makes specific predictions about the nonlinear spacetime oscillations that propagate from merging black holes. In the article we discuss recent progress in theoretical models of these nonlinearities, and how next-generation gravitational-wave detectors should enable researchers to evaluate those predictions.
We also got permission to reproduce some wonderful artwork by Lia Halloran, a professor and the art department chair at Chapman University. If you like what you see, please check out the book The Warped Side of Our Universe: An Odyssey through Black Holes, Wormholes, Time Travel, and Gravitational Waves that she co-authored with Kip Thorne.
