Distinctive Voices—The Dynamic Lives of Black Holes, Neutron Stars, and White Dwarfs in Globular Clusters

The dense centers of globular clusters are home to a whole zoo of exotic astrophysical phenomena. Dr. Kremer studies the unexpected events experienced by compact objects — black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs — within these dense stellar systems. Over the past decade, the groundbreaking detections of gravitational wave signals from merging compact object binaries by the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA detectors have opened a new window to the cosmos. He will discuss why astronomers think some of these gravitational wave events may have originated in globular clusters, made possible by the unique dynamical activity of compact objects within these systems.

Featured Speaker:

Dr. Kyle Kremer

Assistant professor at University of California, San Diego

Kyle Kremer is an Assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at University of California, San Diego, where his research focuses on the dynamics of dense star clusters and the astrophysics of compact objects such as black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs. He combines large-scale N-body simulations with observational studies to explore how stellar interactions produce gravitational-wave sources and high-energy transient phenomena.