Exploring the dark Universe with gravitational waves: new opportunities from the precision frontier

por Dr. Diego Blas (ICREA e IFAE)

jueves 26 mar. 2026 12:30 → 13:30 Europe/Madrid

Salón de Actos (IATA)

95% of the Universe's current energy density does not interact with light. Furthermore, no light signal may arrive to us from the infancy of the Universe, when it was opaque. The first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015 opened the door to overcome these two limitations.

These waves may be produced from any violent-enough source of energy and traverse the early Universe almost unimpeded. In this colloquium I will describe how gravitational waves of different frequencies bring information from the invisible Universe, from primordial phase transitions to mergers of black holes of different sizes.

I will emphasize which frequency bands are poorly covered today and show how quantum technologies in the precision frontier and precise astrophysical data may be the key to access them. This offers a unique opportunity to unveil the mysteries of the dark Universe!

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