Physics Colloquium with Hsin-Yu Chen

Abstract: 

September 14 of this year marks the tenth anniversary of the first direct detection of gravitational waves. Over the past decade, observations of black hole and neutron star mergers with LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA have opened an unprecedented window onto the Universe. Moreover, by combining gravitational-wave measurements with electromagnetic and other observations—ranging from gamma-ray bursts and kilonovae to pulsar and stellar metallicity studies—we fully exploit the power of multimessenger astrophysics, where complementary information across different messengers enables deeper insights. In this talk, I will discuss how gravitational-wave multimessenger observations help us address two fundamental questions in cosmology and nuclear astrophysics: (1) What is the cosmic expansion rate? and (2) What are the origins of the heavy elements in the Universe?

Bio: 

Hsin-Yu Chen earned her B.S. in Physics from National Taiwan University and her Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Chicago. She then held fellowships at Harvard University’s Black Hole Initiative and at MIT as a NASA Einstein–Kavli Fellow. She is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Chen is a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, and her research explores gravitational-wave multimessenger cosmology and nuclear astrophysics.