- Invited speakers
- Block schedule
- Workshop program
- Public talk
- Poster presentations and lightning talks
- Panel discussions
- Tutorials
- Free workshop broadcast
Invited Speakers:
- Igor Andreoni (University of New Carolina)
- Sophie Bini (CalTech)
- Sylvia Biscoveanu (Princeton)
- Juan Calderon Bustillo (University of Santiago de Compostela)
- Tom Callister (Williams College)
- Neil Cornish (Montana State University)
- Max Isi (Columbia University)
- Danny Laghi (University of Zurich)
- Brian Metzger (Columbia University)
- Ornella Piccinni (Australian National University)
- Krista Lynne Smith (Texas A&M)
- Aditya Vijaykumar (Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics)
- Daniel Williams (University of Glasgow)
- Caitlin Witt (Wake Forrest University)
Block schedule (approximate):
| 12/01 (Mon) | 12/02 (Tue) | 12/03 (Wed) | 12/04 (Thu) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00 – 10:30 | GW Landscape in the next 10 years | Stellar evolution and compact object populations | IMBHs and MBHs | Cosmology and the early universe | ||||
| 10:30 – 11:00 | BREAK | BREAK | BREAK | BREAK | ||||
| 11:00 – 12:30 | LVK results from the 4th observing run | Neutron stars | Multi-messenger astrophysics II | New techniques in GW modeling and analysis | ||||
| 12:30 – 14:00 | LUNCH | LUNCH | LUNCH | LUNCH | ||||
| 14:00 – 15:30 | Lightning Talks I + Neutron stars and counterparts | Multi-messenger astrophysics I | Tests of GR | Breakout session (tutorials) | ||||
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Lightning Talks II + Short break | BREAK | BREAK | BREAK | ||||
| 16:00 – 17:30 | Lightning Talks III + Poster session and reception | Panel 1: New experiments | Panel 2: Multi-messenger astrophysics | Breakout session (tutorials) | ||||
| 19:00 – 20:00 | Public talk |
Workshop program:
To see the detailed workshop program/schedule, click on the day of interest or click the link to the full PDF.
Day 1, Monday (12/1) – click to expand
| Day 1 (12/1) | |
|---|---|
| 8:15 | Check-in opens |
| 8:45-9:00 | Welcome address |
| Session 1 | GW landscape in the next 10 years Chair: Laura Cadonati |
| 9:00-9:30 | Neil Cornish - The GW landscape and the future of the GW field in the next 10 years (25+5 min) |
| 9:30-9:43 | Derek Davis - GWTC-4.0: an inside look at this expanded catalog of transient gravitational-wave events (10+3 min) |
| 9:43-9:56 | Anjali Yelikar - Multi-messenger and multiband prospects for binary neutron stars (10+3 min) |
| 9:56-10:09 | Urja Shah - Prospects for Joint Multimessenger Detections in the Next Decade (10+3 min) |
| 10:09-10:22 | Tingting Liu - Multi-Messenger Astrophysics with NewAthena Across the Mass Scale (10+3 min) |
| 10:22-10:30 | 8 mins reserved for transitions |
| 10:30-11:00 | BREAK |
| Session 2 | LVK results from the 4th observing run Chair: Sylvia Biscoveanu |
| 11:00-11:30 | Daniel Williams - GWTC-4.0: Observations and Results (25+5 min) |
| 11:30-12:00 | Aditya Vijaykumar - Population insights from the latest catalog of merging compact binaries (25+5 min) |
| 12:00-12:30 | Tom Callister - Exceptional events from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA O4 Observing Run (25+5 min) |
| 12:30-14:00 | LUNCH |
| 14:00-14:20 | Lightning talks (part 1) |
| Session 3 | Neutron stars and counterparts Chair: Iair Arcavi |
| 14:20-14:33 | Charlie Kilpatrick - A search for optical counterparts to S250818k: the kilonova impostor SN 2025ulz and methods for optimizing future electromagnetic counterpart searches (10+3 min) |
| 14:33-14:46 | Xander Hall - AT2025ulz and S250818k: Early-Time Observations and DESI-Enabled Kilonova Search for a Sub-Solar Mass Graviational Wave Binary Neutron Star Candidate (10+3 min) |
| 14:46-14:59 | Victoria Niu - GW231109_235456: A Sub-threshold Binary Neutron Star Merger in the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA O4a Observing Run? (10+3 min) |
| 14:59-15:12 | Alan Knee - Searches for gravitational waves from the 2024 Vela pulsar glitch (10+3 min) |
| 15:12-15:20 | 8 mins reserved for transitions |
| 15:20 - 15:40 | Lightning talks (part 2) |
| 15:40-15:55 | QUICK BREAK |
| 15:55-16:30 | Lightning talks (part 3) |
| Session 4 | Poster session and reception |
| 16:30-18:00 | Poster viewing and reception |
Day 2, Tuesday (12/2) – click to expand
| Day 2 (12/2) | |
|---|---|
| 8:30-9:00 | Exhibition Hall opens |
| Session 1 | Stellar evolution and compact object populations Chair: Thomas Callister |
| 9:00-9:30 | Sylvia Biscoveanu - The binary black hole population: connecting theory and observations (25+5 min) |
| 9:30-9:43 | Simona Miller - The distribution of spin across the population of merging binary black holes: Results and validation (10+3 min) |
| 9:43-9:56 | Sergey Klimenko - All-sky search for short gravitational-wave bursts in the first part of the fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing run (10+3 min) |
| 9:56-10:09 | Alexander Criswell - Gravitational-Wave Population Inference for the LISA Era and Beyond (10+3 min) |
| 10:09-10:22 | Kaitlyn Szekerczes - The Galactic Imposters: Electromagnetic Mayhem in the LISA Error Box (10+3 min) |
| 10:22-10:30 | 8 mins reserved for transitions |
| 10:30-11:00 | BREAK |
| Session 2 | Neutron stars Chair: Maria Alessandra Papa |
| 11:00-11:30 | Ornella Piccinni - Latest Continuous-Wave Search Results from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration in O4 (25+5 min) |
| 11:30-11:43 | Carolyn Raithel - Tidal deformability doppelgangers (10+3 min) |
| 11:43-11:56 | James Kwon - Resonance locking: Impact of nonlinear hydrodynamics on g-modes in coalescing neutron star binaries (10+3 min) |
| 11:56-12:09 | Eliot Finch - Unified nonparametric equation-of-state inference from the neutron-star crust to perturbative-QCD densities (10+3 min) |
| 12:09-12:22 | Jasper Martins - Novelties in and results of recent Einstein@Home All-sky Searches for Continuous Gravitational Waves (10+3 min) |
| 12:22-12:30 | 8 mins reserved for transitions |
| 12:30-14:00 | LUNCH |
| Session 3 | Multi-messenger astrophysics I Chair: Charlie Kilpatrick |
| 14:00-14:35 | Igor Andreoni and Brian Metzger - From O4 into the future: Theoretical and observational aspects of multi-messenger detections of compact binary GW sources (30+5 min) |
| 14:35-14:48 | Karelle Siellez - Chasing the Ghost of GW170817: Strategies and Hope for Detecting the Next Kilonova Optical Counterpart (10+3 min) |
| 14:48-15:01 | Muhammed Cholayil - Mergers Fall Short: Non-merger Channels Required for Galactic Heavy Element Production (10+3 min) |
| 15:01-15:14 | Erin Vincent - Gravitational Wave Follow-up of Gamma-Ray Bursts During the First Part of the Fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Observing Run (10+3 min) |
| 15:14-15:27 | Jimmy DeLaunay - Searching for weak GRB counterparts to gravitational waves with Swift/BAT GUANO: O4 Status and Results |
| 15:27-15:30 | 3 mins reserved for transitions |
| 15:30-16:00 | BREAK |
| Session 4 | Panel discussion: New experiments Chair: Tamara Bogdanovic |
| 16:00-17:30 | Panelists: Nancy Agarwal, Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, Karan Jani, Feryal Ozel, Nihan Pol, Peter Shawhan, |
Day 3, Wednesday (12/3) – click to expand
| Day 3 (12/3) | |
|---|---|
| 8:30-9:00 | Exhibition Hall opens |
| Session 1 | Intermediate mass and massive black holes Chair: Michael Eracleous |
| 9:00-9:24 | Sophie Bini - GW231123: a binary black hole merger with total mass 190–265 Msun (20+4 min) |
| 9:24-9:48 | Caitlin Witt - Searches for individual SMBHBs with Pulsar Timing Arrays (20+4 min) |
| 9:48-10:01 | Krystal Ruiz-Rocha - Properties of `Lite' Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Candidates in LIGO-Virgo's Third Observing Run (10+3 min) |
| 10:01-10:14 | Maria Charisi - Searching for supermassive black hole binaries (10+3 min) |
| 10:14-10:27 | Hanxi Wang - Black holes as telescopes: Discovering supermassive binaries through quasi-periodic lensed starlight (10+3 min) (REMOTE) |
| 10:27-10:30 | 3 mins reserved for transitions |
| 10:30-11:00 | BREAK |
| Session 2 | Multi-messenger astrophysics II Chair: Caitlin Witt |
| 11:00-11:30 | Juan Calderon Bustillo - Multi-messenger observations of black-hole mergers (25+5 min) |
| 11:30-11:43 | Chi-Ho Chan - Radiative magnetohydrodynamics simulation of minidisks in massive black hole binaries (10+3 min) |
| 11:43-11:56 | Niana Mohammed - Stubborn broad emission lines: The supermassive binary hopefuls that came through and the ones that disappointed (10+3 min) |
| 11:56-12:09 | Chengcheng Xin - Identifying Compact Chirping SMBHBs in LSST using Bayesian Analysis (10+3 min) |
| 12:09-12:22 | Niccolò Veronesi - All-sky surveys: promises and challenges in the search for the hosts of SuperMassive Black Hole binaries (10+3 min) |
| 12:22-12:30 | 8 mins reserved for transitions |
| 12:30-14:00 | LUNCH |
| Session 3 | Tests of GR Chair: Dimitrios Psaltis |
| 14:00-14:30 | Max Isi - Probing black holes with gravitational waves: GW250114 and other highlights (25+5 min) |
| 14:30-14:43 | Nicole Khusid - Measuring overtones in a loud ringdown with LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (10+3 min) |
| 14:43-14:56 | Lorenzo Pompili - Black Hole Spectroscopy and Tests of General Relativity with a Loud Binary Black Hole Signal (10+3 min) |
| 14:56-15:09 | Nicholas Loutrel - Probing Modified Gravitational Wave Dispersion with Eccentric Bursts (10+3 min) |
| 15:09-15:22 | Subhayu Bagchi - Numerical solutions for rotating Black Holes in dynamical Chern-Simons theory |
| 15:22-15:30 | 8 mins reserved for transitions |
| 15:30-16:00 | BREAK |
| Session 4 | Panel discussion: Multi-messenger astrophysics Chair: Feryal Özel |
| 16:00-17:30 | Panelists: Iair Arcavi, Derek Davis, Michael Eracleous, Brian Metzger, Maria Alessandra Papa, Caitlin Witt |
| 19:00-20:00 | Public talk by Krista Lynne Smith - Through the Kaleidoscope: The Multicolor Music of Supermassive Black Holes |
| Location: Howey Physics Building, Lecture Hall L1 | |
Day 4, Thursday (12/4) – click to expand
| Day 4 (12/4) | |
|---|---|
| 8:30-9:00 | Exhibition Hall opens |
| Session 1 | Cosmology and the early universe Chair: Peter Shawhan |
| 9:00-9:30 | Danny Laghi - Latest constraints on the Hubble constant and modified gravitational-wave propagation with GWTC-4.0 (25+5 min) |
| 9:30-9:43 | Ignacio Magana Hernandez - Dark Siren Cosmology with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) (10+3 min) |
| 9:43-9:56 | William Smith - Large-scale structure of the universe as the astrophysical probe for stellar-mass binary black hole mergers (10+3 min) |
| 9:56-10:09 | Krishnendu Naderi Varium - Probing the population of pop III remnants using gravitational wave observations (10+3 min) |
| 10:09-10:22 | Miguel Zumalacarregui - Wave-optics phenomena, lensed gravitational waves and GW231123 (10+3 min) |
| 10:22-10:30 | 3 mins reserved for transitions |
| 10:30-11:00 | BREAK |
| Session 2 | New techniques in GW data modeling and analysis Chair: Miguel Zumalacarregui |
| 11:00-11:13 | William Benoit - Accelerating Gravitational-Wave Astronomy with Machine Learning (10+3 min) |
| 11:13-11:26 | Digvijay Wadekar - Best of both worlds: integrating principled matched-filtering searches with AI/ML tools (10+3 min) |
| 11:26-11:39 | Javier Roulet - labrador: an easy-to-train machine-learning tool for gravitational wave inference (10+3 min) |
| 11:39-11:52 | Sofia Alvarez-Lopez - Nowhere left to hide: revealing realistic gravitational-wave populations in high dimensions and high resolution with PixelPop (10+3 min) |
| 11:52-12:05 | Chayan Chatterjee - Advancing Intermediate‑Mass Black Hole Discovery Through Novel Machine Learning Classification and Reconstruction (10+3 min) |
| 12:05-12:18 | Craig Pellegrino - The ACROSS Facility: Enabling Community-wide Follow-up of Multimessenger Sources (10+3 min) |
| 12:18-12:31 | Rachel Langgin - Gravitational waveform accuracy requirements for current and future ground-based detectors (10+3 min) |
| 12:31-12:40 | 9 mins reserved for transitions |
| 12:40-14:00 | LUNCH |
| Breakouts | |
| 14:00-15:30 | Tutorial 1: William Benoit - ml4gw: a new ecosystem for the use of AI in end-to-end GW searches (90 min) Breakout room: Kirkwood |
| 14:00-15:30 | Tutorial 2: Collin Capano - PyCBC Inference: standard IMR analyses and black hole spectroscopy (90 min) Breakout room: Sweet Auburn |
| 14:00-15:30 | Tutorial 3: Yumeng Xu - PycWB: A Modular Framework for Current- and Next-Generation Gravitational-Wave Burst Searches (90 min) Breakout room: Old Fourth Ward |
| 15:30-16:00 | BREAK |
| 16:00-17:30 | Tutorial 1 continued: Deep Chatterjee - Application of likelihood-free inference in GW data analysis (90 min) Breakout room: Kirkwood |
| 16:00-17:30 | Tutorial 2 continued: Shichao Wu - Mock data generation and analysis of LISA and XG detectors with PyCBC (90 min) Breakout room: Sweet Auburn |
| 16:00-17:30 | Feel free to use this space for unstructured activities and collaboration Breakout room: Old Fourth Ward |
| End of the workshop | |
Embedded PDF – click to expand
Public talk: Dr. Krista Lynne Smith (Texas A&M) – Through the kaleidoscope: The multicolor music of supermassive black holes
Embedded PDF – click to expand
Poster presentations and lightning talks:
Posters will be on display during the first three days of the workshop, in the same auditorium space where the talks are delivered. In addition, on the first day of the workshop, the poster presenters will have an opportunity to present a 1-minute summary of their poster in the form of a lightning talk. Lightning talks are optional, and all poster presenters will receive instructions on how to upload their slides via email. The lightning talks will be followed by the workshop reception, which will allow all attendees to enjoy appetizers and drinks while viewing posters.
Poster size: Posters should be no more than 3 feet wide and 4 feet tall. The pins and/or adhesives to attach posters to the display boards will be provided on-site.
Panel discussions:
The workshop will feature two panel discussions: one on New experiments (Tuesday afternoon) and one on Multi-band and multi-messenger astrophysics (Wednesday afternoon). Below, we list the panelists and the topics they will discuss.
Panel 1: New experiments
- Nancy Aggarwal (UC Davis): High-frequency gravitational wave detectors
- Peter Shawhan (University of Maryland): Next generation of ground-based GW detectors
- Karan Jani (Vanderbilt): Lunar detector
- Kelly Holley-Bockelmann (Vanderbilt): Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA)
- Nihan Pol (Texas Tech): Pulsar Timing Arrays
- Feryal Ozel (Georgia Tech): Radio Imaging with Interferometry
Panel 2: Multi-band and multi-messenger astrophysics
- Derek Davis (University of Rhode Island): Localization of gravitational-wave transients
- Brian Metzger (Columbia University): Kilonovae
- Maria Alessandra Papa (Albert Einstein Institute): EM-triggered continuous wave searches
- Iair Arcavi (Tel Aviv University): Electromagnetic follow-up of transient sources
- Caitlin Witt (Wake Forrest U.): Pulsar Timing Array searches for massive black hole binaries
- Michael Eracleous (Penn State): Electromagnetic searches for massive black hole binaries
Tutorials:
The workshop will also feature three tutorials during the breakout sessions on Thursday afternoon. The times and breakout rooms for tutorials are marked in the workshop program. The text below provides a brief description of each tutorial.
Tutorial 1: William Benoit – ml4gw: a new ecosystem for the use of AI in end-to-end GW searches
Click to expand
We will present a demonstration of ml4gw, a PyTorch-based Python library designed to streamline the process of doing machine learning in gravitational-wave physics. We’ll give examples of the various tools contained in ml4gw and show how they all can be integrated together to create a robust, efficient, binary black hole detection algorithm. Though the library is focused on gravitational wave applications, many of the features are broadly useful for time series data, and we invite anyone interested in machine learning to attend, regardless of background. The tutorial notebook and the relevant data will be available for participants who want to try things for themselves.
Tutorial 1 (continued), Deep Chatterjee – Application of likelihood-free inference in GW data analysis
Click to expand
Likelihood-free/Simulation-based inference is emerging as a new technique of parameter estimation in gravitational-wave (GW) data analysis. The primary difference compared to stochastic sampling techniques involves learning the posterior distribution using neural-networks instead of sampling. Normalizing flows are one of the popular choices used for this purpose. This tutorial will present an exercise of training a normalizing flow to approximate a distribution. This will be followed by a simple example to estimate the parameters of a linear fit. Finally, it will use the tools from ML4GW, a new framework for GW data analysis tools on accelerated hardware, to demonstrate training a normalizing flow of GW parameter estimation.
Tutorial 2: Collin Capano – PyCBC Inference: standard IMR analyses and black hole spectroscopy
Click to expand
This tutorial will provide: (1) An introduction to how to use PyCBC Inference for standard inspiral-merger-ringdown (IMR) analyses. (2) Then go into the black hole spectroscopy. (3) Hierarchical likelihood models and waveform plug-in as well.
Tutorial 2 (continued): Shichao Wu – Mock data generation and analysis of LISA and XG detectors with PyCBC
Click to expand
In this tutorial, you will learn: (1) How to use PyCBC to generate the mock data set for Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer with a given population model. (2) How to generate supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) mock data and parameter estimation for LISA. (3) How to do LISA+3G coherent multiband parameter estimation for stellar/intermediate-mass BBH.
Tutorial 3: Yumeng Xu – PycWB: A Modular Framework for Current- and Next-Generation Gravitational-Wave Burst Searches
Click to expand
PycWB is a modular and user-friendly gravitational-wave search pipeline built on the foundation of coherentWaveBurst (cWB), a well-established algorithm extensively used in LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA burst searches. Its flexible architecture allows users to easily adapt the pipeline to different use cases and switch between algorithms as needed. Developers can contribute new functionalities as standalone modules without needing to modify the core framework. By leveraging mature Python packages, PycWB streamlines development and supports integration with modern computational tools such as parallel processing, CUDA acceleration, and machine learning algorithms. By modernizing and extending the capabilities of the original cWB framework, PycWB aims to advance gravitational-wave burst searches into the next generation. In this talk, we will present the architecture of PycWB and demonstrate its applications.
Free workshop broadcast:
If you are unable to join in person but would still like to tune in for the talks, we plan on providing a free broadcast of the workshop. Note that, beyond streaming, we will not be able to offer the full functionality of a hybrid meeting. Please complete the registration form below and provide an email address, where we can send the broadcast information.
Workshop broadcast registration form: https://forms.gle/5VZhM6kb47ZNPnj46