Gravitational waves are ripples on the ocean of space-time, an eerie concept that never ceases to intrigue. Colliding stars and black holes, exploding supernovas, and the turmoil that lies in the hearts of quasars are considered to be the primary sources of gravitational waves. The quest to detect and use them as a new window on the universe has created a need for accurate computer simulations of general relativity as described by Einstein's field equations. In this talk I will give an introduction to this fascinating field and describe in particular the issue of deriving suitable boundary conditions to allow computations on bounded domains.

Please join us beforehand for pizza.