Theoretical Physics Division seminar

The main feature of the electronic systems in atoms, molecules and solids is that external potential as well as mutual interaction between electrons has the form of Coulomb potential. In such a case, the knowledge of the one-particle density determines not only the ground state energy of the electronic system but also the full Hamiltonian of the systems. Therefore, the very special properties of the Coulomb density allow for formulation of an exact time-independent density functional theory (DFT) of ground and excited states of Coulomb systems [1].

On September 14, 2015 the two LIGO detectors simultaneously observed a gravitational-wave signal coming from the merger of two stellar-mass black holes. After very quick look at the history of gravitational-wave research, the observation as well as detectors, search algorithms, and source properties will be described in more detail. The contribution of the Polish POLGRAW group to the discovery will be presented.