LIGO Seminar

Resonant effects are ubiquitous in any multi-frequency system. In our solar
system they have sculpted the rings of Saturn and gaps in the asteroid belt
and are intimately connected with the onset of chaos. Around black holes the
existence of longitudinal and radial libration frequencies in addition to
the azimuthal orbital frequency permit resonant effects unique to strongly
gravitating systems. In this talk I characterize the time and length scales
associated with resonant orbits around black holes for all spin and orbital
parameter values.  I then survey the implications of resonant phenomenon for
several astrophysical scenarios such as: phase shifts in the waveform
associated with the resonant passage of a compact object during  extreme and
intermediate mass ratio inspirals observable with LIGO, observed frequencies
of quasi-periodic oscillations for accreting black holes and a possible disc
structure around Sgr A* observable with the Event Horizon Telescope. In
conclusion I discuss the implications of these results and the KAM theorem
for measuring the multipole moments of quiescent black holes and testing the
no-hair theorems.

We plan to broadcast this talk using SeeVogh.