September 2026
23/09/26 (Wednesday)
10:00, Library (ESO HQ, Garching) | ESO Garching
Informal Discussion
Talk — The Golden Age of Stellar-Mass Black Holes: Do Observations Match Our Predictions?
Aleksandra Olejak ([MPA / Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences])
View Abstract
Abstract
We have entered a golden age of discovery for stellar-mass black holes.
For decades, our empirical picture was shaped primarily by black holes
in X-ray binaries. Today, gravitational-wave detections have revealed a
large population of merging binary black holes, Gaia is beginning to
uncover dormant black holes in wide binaries, and microlensing has
provided a new way of detecting isolated black holes. Together, these
observations are giving us access to black holes in remarkably different
environments and binary configurations.
What have we actually learned about the abundance of black holes, their
masses, binary companions, and other properties? In this discussion, I
will explore how well this emerging observational picture agrees with
predictions from stellar and binary evolution and highlight some of the
most interesting tensions.