Tim Dietrich (University of Potsdam)
Neutron stars are among the most compact objects in the Universe and the detection of gravitational waves and electromagnetic signals from the merger of two neutron stars in 2017 has been a revolution in the field of astronomy. This breakthrough observation enabled studies about the history of our cosmos, the formation of heavy elements, and the physics on subatomic scales. Essential for the interpretation of these observations are reliable models describing the merger dynamics. While in the past, these models or approximants have been tested through numerical-relativity simulations, we can now use the observational data to improve the existing models and our understanding of the relativistic two-body problem.
