Physics Colloquium

The remarkable detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO/Virgo
collaboration has opened a new window into the cosmos. In this
colloquium, we explain how particle theorists can help out with
state-of-the-art calculations relevant for gravitational-wave emission
from compact astrophysical objects. The past decade has seen enormous
advances in our ability to compute quantum scattering amplitudes
making seemingly impossible calculations tractable. These advances
include concepts such as the duality between color and kinematics,
double-copy relations and generalized unitarity. After introducing
these concepts we explain how effective field theory methods can be
used to transfer these ideas to the binary black hole inspiral
problem.