Marsfield Lecture Theatre

Alberto Sesana

Massive Black Hole Binaries: formation, dynamics and gravitational waves. -- Alberto Sesana Colloquium

In the next decade the detection of gravitational waves (GW) will be a reality, opening a completely new window on the Universe. Massive black holes (MBH) binaries (MBHBs) are expected to be among the primary actors on this upcoming stage. I review our current understanding of MBH(B) formation, evolution and dynamics during the cosmic history, I will discuss detectability proposed space interferometers (LISA/eLISA) and ongoing and forthcoming pulsar timing arrays, and discuss prospects to do multimessenger astronomy by exploiting observations of putative electromagnetic counterparts.