What are gravitational waves, and could primordial black holes be dark matter? Astrophysicist Laura Byrne (University of Auckland) explains how the LISA space mission could detect them. Astrophiz podcast Episode 244.
Laura Byrne is a PhD candidate modelling gravitational waves from merging black holes ahead of LISA, the first gravitational wave observatory in space. Her current work asks whether tiny primordial black holes orbiting supermassive black holes like Sagittarius A* could produce gravitational wave signals loud enough for LISA to detect, and what that would tell us about dark matter. She won the Kerr Prize for best student talk at the Australasian Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation.
IN THIS EPISODE
- What are gravitational waves? Ripples in spacetime, "hearing the universe", and over 300 detections since 2015
- The LISA mission: a gravitational wave detector 2.5 million kilometres long vs 5 km for LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA
- Primordial black holes as a dark matter candidate
- Modelling gravitational waves in Python: hyperbolic orbits, signal-to-noise ratios and the LISA global fit
- Machine learning and AI in gravitational wave data analysis
- Planetarium presenting, science education research and equity in physics
- Early career advice: why universities should value teaching
- What to watch next: Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the Roman Space Telescope
ABOUT LAURA BYRNE
PhD candidate, University of Auckland (supervisor Prof Richard Easther). Integrated master's degree, University of Exeter. Planetarium presenter at Stardome, teaching fellow, and equity advocate in physics.
FULL TRANSCRIPT AND SHOW NOTES
astrophiz.com
Laura's Study with Laura videos: YouTube
Lecture: A Human History of Looking Up: From Stargazing to Space Lasers
ABOUT ASTROPHIZ
Astrophiz is an independent, ad-free, unsponsored astrophysics podcast hosted by Brendan O'Brien, with over 240 episodes featuring the world's leading space scientists. New interviews on the 15th of each month, and Dr Ian Musgrave's SkyGuide on the 1st. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud and YouTube.
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