Luciano Combi (Perimeter Institute): A surge of light in extremely curved spacetimes: present and future of multi-messenger astrophysics

When two astrophysical compact objects such as neutron stars or black holes are brought to close distances, they start emitting copious amounts of gravitational radiation and they eventually merge.  This extremely energetic cosmic clash will also shine in electromagnetic waves if matter, usually in the form of plasma, is involved in the collision.  In this talk, I will show recent developments in the new field of multi-messenger astrophysics from gravitational wave sources at different scales, ranging from stellar mass objects to supermassive black holes.