TAPIR Seminar

Recent numerical simulations and observational indications have suggested that globular clusters (GCs) may contain large populations of stellar-mass black holes (BHs). This has important implications to gravitational wave astronomy, as GCs are understood to be efficient factories of merging BH-BH binaries. In this talk, I will examine ways BH populations influence the dynamical evolution and observable properties of GCs and also the discuss the dynamical formation of various types of BH binaries, including both low-mass X-ray binaries and gravitational wave sources that may be detectable by LIGO and LISA. Additionally, I will discuss the formation of accreting white dwarf binaries and their applications to LISA.