What’s inside a black hole? Probing the interior of black holes with gravitational waves

The view in general relativity of the interior of a blackhole as a region of empty space, surrounded by a completely opaque horizon contradicts the laws of quantum mechanics and so cannot be correct. I will present general arguments, based on fundamental physics principles, as to why we should expect a distribution of exotic matter and a significant departure from semiclassical gravity inside astrophysical black holes. Then, I will explain how the emitted gravitational waves during blackhole mergers can provide the answer to the following question: Does the blackhole interior contain some distribution of matter or is it mostly empty? I will conclude by discussing the prospects of obtaining a decisive answer from LIGO and other gravitational wave experiments.

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