报告摘要：The detection of gravitational waves from merging black hole (BH) binaries by advanced LIGO/Virgo has generated renewed interest in understanding the formation mechanisms of merging compact binaries, from the evolution of massive stellar binaries and triples in the galactic fields, dynamical interactions in dense star clusters to binary mergers in AGN disks. I will discuss different aspects of the dynamical formation channel, focusing on the origin of BH binaries and their mergers in AGN disks.

主讲人简介：Dong Lai is Benson Jay and Mary Ellen Simon Professor at Cornell University and T.-D. Lee Chair Professor (Visiting) at T.-D. Lee Institute at SJTU. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Science and Technology of China. He studied theoretical physics at Cornell University, receiving Ph.D. in 1994. He was the Richard C. Tolman Prize Fellow in theoretical astrophysics at Caltech, and joined the Cornell Astronomy faculty in 1997. He has received the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship and the Simons Fellowship. His current research is in theoretical/computational astrophysics, focusing on exoplanets, compact objects (neutron stars, black holes and white dwarfs), and astrophysical (particle, fluid and plasma) dynamics in general.