Public Lecture- "Colliding Black Holes and the search for Dark Matter."

One of the most fascinating predictions of Einstein's theory of gravity is the existence of black holes. These are objects that are so dense that not even light can escape their powerful gravity. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has recently discovered the presence of black holes that could constitute the dark matter in the universe. Dr. Ferrer will discuss these black holes and the gravitational waves that LIGO detected when two black holes collided. He will also talk about observations of the super-massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way by the Event Horizon Telescope.
      Dr. Francesc Ferrer is an Associate Professor of Physics at Washington University.  He completed his PhD at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. He then held postdoctoral positions at Oxford University and Case Western Reserve before coming to Saint Louis in 2008.  His areas of interest are theoretical cosmology and astroparticle physics. He studies the composition and evolution of the universe and implications for cosmology of theories of sub-atomic particle physics.