Forming Gravitational Wave Sources through Stellar Dynamics

Over the past 5 years the LIGO-Virgo network of gravitational-wave interferometers has detected a number of sources, including more than a dozen black-hole mergers. In this talk I will review our current understanding of the astrophysics of these sources, focusing on theoretical models for their formation through stellar dynamics in dense star clusters. Different models can lead to very different predictions for the expected physical properties of the sources and their distribution across the universe, which will soon be tested directly once the pace of additional detections accelerates.