COLLOQUIUM: Binary Black Hole and Neutron Star Collisions

Binary compact object mergers are among the primary gravitational wave sources expected to be observed by the next generation of ground-based gravitational wave detectors. Mergers where one or both compact objects are neutron stars will further produce electromagnetic emission, and coincident observation of this together with gravitational wave emission could teach us much about the progenitor systems, test general relativity in the dynamical strong field regime, and help elucidate the nature of matter at nuclear density. This talk will be a broad overview discussing expected populations of binaries, the anatomy of typical mergers, and how such systems are numerically modelled within the context of general relativity coupled to ideal hydrodynamics.