Thomas Tauris - Gravitational waves, X-ray binaries and supernovae - a new era of multidisciplinary research

Abstract: The recent detection of gravitational waves (GWs) from merging binary black holes (BHs) and neutron stars (NSs) has revolutionized astrophysics. Revealing the origin of these sources is a rich physics problem whose solution will enhance our understanding of not just binary compact objects but also stars, binary interactions, supernovae (SNe) and the Universe itself. Furthermore, the prime candidate sources for the upcoming space-borne GW observatory LISA are the numerous Galactic tight binaries of white dwarfs (WDs) and NSs, many of which will coalesce and undergo mass transfer, leading to simultaneous emission of X-rays and GWs. Here, I discuss the properties of various GW sources at high and low frequencies and demonstrate how natural synergies exist between GWs, X-ray binaries and SNe. Combining knowledge on these subtopics with new theoretical simulations is needed for opening new avenues of research and necessary to make significant progress to fully exploit future observational data from GWs using LIGO/Virgo, LISA and 3G.