Prof. Alessandra Corsi (Texas Tech University)

"Multi-messenger observations of cosmic collisions and explosions: progenitors, relativistic ejecta, and remnants"

Abstract: The births and mergers of neutron stars and black holes, the most exotic objects in the universe, can launch the fastest cosmic jets (gamma-ray bursts; GRBs) and shake the very fabric of space-time with gravitational waves. GW170817, the merger of two neutron stars witnessed through both its gravitational wave siren and its glow at all wavelengths of light, marked the beginning of a golden age in multi-messenger astrophysics. While the GW siren of GW170817 has directly confirmed that at least some short GRBs originate from NS-NS mergers, the smoking gun linking long GRBs to core collapses i.e., the association with stripped-envelope core-collapse supernovae, has been challenged by several electromagnetic (EM) observations. In this context, I will discuss how observations at radio wavelengths can probe the ejecta and environments of compact binary mergers and extreme core collapses and help unveil their progenitors and remnants. I will then highlight opportunities and challenges ahead, as new observational facilities will transform a trickle of multi-messenger discoveries into a flood.

Bio: Alessandra Corsi is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Texas Tech University (TTU), where she also holds a President’s Excellence in Research Professorship. Her research focuses on multi-messenger time-domain astronomy. She received her Laurea in Physics in 2003 and her Ph.D. in Astronomy in 2007 from the University of Rome Sapienza. She carried out post-doctoral research at Penn State and Caltech. She is an NSF CAREER awardee, a National (Italy) L’Oreal-Unesco awardee for Women in Science, and a fellow of the American Physical Society. In 2020 she was awarded the O’Donnell Award in Science of The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST). She is a recipient of the 2022 New Horizons in Physics Prize “For leadership in laying foundations for electromagnetic observations of sources of gravitational waves, and leadership in extracting rich information from the first observed collision of two neutron stars.”