We will have a GRITTS seminar next Wednesday, Oct 7th at 4 p.m. at the conference room in NW22, 2nd floor.

**Please note new instructions on how to get in NW22 here below**

Our speaker is Archisman Ghosh (TIFR)

Title: Parameter estimation and cosmology with gravitational waves

Abstract: Estimation of parameters of sources emitting gravitational waves (GWs) is a crucial step in extracting any physics or astrophysics following a GW detection. Direct measurement of the mass and spin angular momentum of black holes, putting constraints on departures from general relativity, are among the many interesting physics and astrophysics results that can be obtained following upcoming GW detections.

In this talk, we focus on the prospects of measurement of cosmological parameters like Hubble parameter and matter fraction of the universe. The traditional measurement of these parameters relies crucially on the complex physics of electromagnetic sources and is potentially affected by the systematics of their calibration and detection. GWs from compact binary coalescences give us access to the luminosity distance without relying on the cosmic distance ladder, and thus an entirely independent measurement of these parameters can be made. We present the prospects of constraining cosmological parameters with GW observations of binary black hole mergers using the second generation of ground-based detectors.

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We hope to see you all there!

The schedule of past and up-coming GRITTS seminars is posted on http://space.mit.edu/gritts/.
Follow us on Twitter @GRITTS_MIT.

**How to get to building NW22: Due to maintenance work, you cannot use the front door of  NW22. Instead, you will have to use the docking door of NW22, which is located in the small street between NW22 and NW17. If the door is locked, please call Marie Wood or Salvatore from the service phone near the door.**

GRITTS organizers:

Salvatore Vitale, Victoria Grinberg, Slawomir Gras
Scott Hughes, Nergis Mavalvala
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