Por Soham Bhattacharyya (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Germany).

Since the detection of Gravitational Waves a few years ago, the Gravitational physics community has been energized to test all possible models of gravitation that predict the existence of such radiation. Now with the ramping up of efforts to make GW detectors even more sensitive, such energy among the Gravitational physics community is bound to increase. I will be talking about two possible directions that modifications to the Einstein-Hilbert theory can take. I will explain what goes into making GR so successful, what are its possible drawbacks, and what new effects come into play when one makes a modification to the Einstein-Hilbert theory. Lastly, I will explain how using the new 'ears' of GW detectors one can test for possible violations of GR.

Short Bio: Soham Bhattacharyya did his Ph.D. at IISER Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, India. His Ph.D. was on testing general relativity and constraining possible deviations from general relativity using black hole quasinormal modes. After the Ph.D., Soham joined as a postdoc at AEI Hannover, where he is still employed.