At the limits of astrophysics – with Katy Clough

Why does modern astronomy often sound like science fiction? And how do objects like supermassive black holes, wormholes and warp drives fit into our current understanding of physics?

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This event was recorded at the Royal Institution on 23 March 2023.

Much of modern astronomy sounds a lot like science fiction - gravitational ripples in the fabric of spacetime, supermassive black holes hiding at the centre of galaxies, habitable exoplanets within the reach of our telescopes…are there any limits to what is out there?

Whilst largely considered to be firmly in the category of fiction, such concepts are nevertheless based on solid scientific ideas about the curvature of spacetime from Einstein’s theory of general relativity. This theory is known to be hugely counter-intuitive, giving rise to singularities, event horizons and time dilation around black holes. In strong gravity regimes things behave very differently to the low gravity environment on the Earth, so our intuition, which is based on our everyday experience, can mislead us. Studying these objects can help us to challenge our understanding of what is “natural”, and better understand the extreme limits of gravitational theory.

Katy Clough is a lecturer and Ernest Rutherford Fellow in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Queen Mary University of London. She studies systems with strong dynamical gravity using numerical simulations, including black holes and the early universe. She is part of the fundamental physics working group for the future space based gravitational wave detector, LISA. Katy’s first degree was in Engineering and her degree in Physics was obtained from the Open University whilst working as a chartered accountant. After her PhD at King’s College London she worked in Goettingen in Germany and in Oxford University in postdoctoral positions. She believes that science is for everyone and that there is no right way to be a scientist.

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