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Use and abuse of gravitational-wave datasets

by Dr. Salsbury

Wake Forest Physics will host Prof. Salvatore Vitale of MIT for a Physics Colloquium on Thursday, September 17, 2026. A reception begins at 3:30 p.m. in the Olin Lobby, followed by the talk at 4 p.m. in Olin 101.

Flyer for a Wake Forest Physics Colloquium with a portrait of Prof. Salvatore Vitale of MIT. “Use and abuse of gravitational-wave datasets” is Thursday, September 17, 2026, at 4 p.m. in Olin 101, following a 3:30 p.m. reception in the Olin Lobby.

In “Use and abuse of gravitational-wave datasets,” Vitale will discuss the astrophysical implications of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration’s GWTC-5 dataset, which includes about 250 significant sources. Analyses by the LVK Collaboration and other researchers have found mounting evidence of multiple subpopulations of binary black holes and nontrivial correlations within a population. Vitale will examine the opportunities and challenges created by these larger datasets and offer cautionary examples from recent claims of population structure.

Vitale earned his PhD in physics from Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris in 2010. Before joining the MIT faculty in 2017, he held research positions at Nikhef in Amsterdam and the MIT LIGO Laboratory.

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