Astronomy from four perspectives: Multimessenger Astrophysics

Recent years witnessed the first ever detection of gravitational waves, a further confirmation  of the validity of Einstein’s theory of gravitation and the unambiguous proof the existence of black holes. Since the “golden event” of September 2015, other detections followed, including the first observation of the merging of two neutron stars and of its electromagnetic counterpart.

The detection of GWs truly opened the era of multimessenger astrophysics, showing that key information about astrophysical sources are carried by means other than EM waves. This complements the ongoing search for particle signals (cosmic rays, neutrinos) from cosmic sources.

Goal of the school is to offer students and teachers an updated, comprehensive view of the present state of multimessenger astrophysics and of its future developments. Lectures and tutorials will cover different topics, including the generation and detection of GWs, particle and neutrino astrophysics. Since EM astronomy plays a central role, and so it will in the future, an overview of astrophysics in the different spectral bands (from radio to UHE) will be provided.