In this talk I will give a general, broad description of the ?extreme-mass ratioinspiral problem, i.e. the gravitational capture of ?a stellar-mass compact object via loss of energy due to the emission ?of gravitational waves. This is one of the most interesting sources of ?gravitational waves to be detected in the future by a space-borne ?observatory such as LISA. My talk will mostly be focused on ?astrophysics but will include bits of general relativity as well. Time ?allowing, I will present a new source of gravitational waves, the ?so-called extremely-large mass ratio inspirals.

BIO
After completion of his Bachelor’s in Theoretical Physics ?(Particle Physics) in Spain, Pau Amaro Seoane moved to Heidelberg to ?do a PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics on dense stellar systems and the ?cosmic growth ofsupermassive black holes.

Later, Dr. Pau Amaro Seoane moved to the the Max Planck Institute of ?Gravitational Physics in Potsdam (the Albert Einstein Institute, AEI) ?to work on General Relativity, in particular on Gravitational Wave Astronomy.

During his time in Barcelona Dr. Pau Amaro Seoane worked on the ?formation and evolution of protoplanetary disks, and developed a ?hybrid algorithm to study the formation and evolution of ?protoplanetary disks.

He then received an offer from the AEI in Potsdam to be a Senior ?Scientist in 2008, and created his own Gravitational Wave Astronomy ?group at the AEI.

In 2016 Dr. Pau Amaro Seoane got an offer to join the Institute of ?Space Studies located at the Campus of Universitat Autònoma de ?Barcelona thanks to a Ramón y Cajal fellowship. Their Gravitational ?Wave Astronomy Research and Technology group there has led the Spanish ?effort in the LISA Pathfinder mission and in the future LISA one.

Dr. Pau Amaro Seoane’s main research focus has been Gravitational ?Wave Astronomy since 2004.

Host: Prof. Dandan Xu