Left: Artist’s impression of the pulsar PSR J0348+0432 and its white dwarf companion. Binary systems like this emit gravitational waves (Image: ESO/L. Calçada). Right: Simulating eXtreme Spacetime project, D. Steinhauser (Image: S. Ossokine, A. Buonanno (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics).
In the last few years have been performed the first observations of gravitational-wave events from the coalescence of binary black holes and neutron stars. We will review the steps that led to these discoveries, and their significance for astrophysics and for fundamental physics
