The detection of compact binary mergers with sub-solar masses at gravitational wave observatories would mark a groundbreaking discovery of primordial black holes (PBHs). Concurrently, evidence for a nano-Hz stochastic gravitational wave background observed by pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) could suggest a non-astrophysical origin, potentially arising from scalar-induced gravitational waves (SIGWs). In this talk, I will explore the interplay between these phenomena, focusing on sub-solar PBH populations within reach of upcoming experiments. In the second part, I will shift the focus to supermassive PBHs, presenting novel constraints derived from an effective field theory tailored for Lyman-alpha forest observations.

Biography

I completed my undergraduate studies in TU Dortmund, Germany and moved to Zurich, Switzerland for my Masters of Science at ETH Zurich and the PhD in Theoretical Physics at the University of Zurich under the supervision of Prof. Gino Isidori. Next, I joined SISSA, Trieste, as a Postdoc for one year. Afterwards, I moved to Boston and joined the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI) at MIT first as an SNSF fellow and then as a Center of Theoretical Physics Postdoc. I am exploring the boundaries of the Standard Model of particle physics and the Lambda cold dark matter model of cosmology. My research approach integrates a wide spectrum of methods, ranging from traditional model building in Quantum Field Theory to Quantum Information Theory and intepretable Artificial Intelligence.

Inviter: Shao-Jiang Wang