Dynamical Origin of Gravitational Wave Sources

Various dynamical mechanisms, operating on multiple timescales and environments, could lead to energetic interactions with observable gravitational wave (GW) signatures. These can be conceptualized as snapshots containing detailed information about the physical parameters that characterize the gravitating systems. In my talk I explore potential dynamical origins of several GW sources and characterize the imprints of dissipative and dynamical processes on the GW signal. Among the varied processes I’ll discuss are post binary tidal-disruption captures of extreme mass ratio inspirals, the catalyzation of mergers of binary black holes due to flyby interactions in the field, and inspirals of compact objects through a gaseous sphere inside accreting supermassive stars.  Taken together, the studies presented can potentially shed light of several puzzles in current astrophysics, in particular the formation and evolution of supermassive black holes, relaxation processes occurring in galactic nuclei, galactic and stellar dynamics, and strong gravity. The talk is particularly timely due to numerous advances in GW astronomy, and since further developments are expected soon with ground and space-based GW detectors