Abstract: Compact objects in general and neutron stars (NSs) in particular open a window to some of the most extreme physics we can find in nature. On the one hand in the interior of NSs we can find matter in very extreme densities, exceeding nuclear densities and anything we can probe in the laboratory, while on the other hand NSs are related to the strongest gravitational fields next only to those found in black holes. Therefore studying NSs gives us access to both supranuclear densities and strong gravity and can be used to get information and test our theories of matter (equation of state) and gravity. The properties of the structure of NSs are encoded on the spacetime around them and by studying the astrophysical processes that take place around NSs we can map that spacetime.Here we will talk about the properties of NS structure and how they are related to the properties of the spacetime around them. We will also talk about the relation of these properties to astrophysical observables. Finally we will extend our discussion to the case of scalar-tensor theory of gravity.
Gr@v's Ph.D. student (in collaboration with IST-Lisbon) Pedro Cunha produced a short movie illustrating a voyage into a black hole, and in particular the lensing effects visualized by an observer undergoing such journey. The journalist Catarina Lázaro (voice) and Gr@v researcher C. Herdeiro (scientific advising) collaborated in the movie, which will have a premiere on December 3rd 2016 at "Observatório Geofísico e Astronómico da Universidade de Coimbra".
The European Space Agency (ESA) Advanced Concepts Team (ACT) has created a cool interactive webpage for visualization of the lensing due to a black hole, featuring black holes with scalar hair found by our group. Try it here! (Works better with the Chrome browser)
Abstract: On 14 September 2016, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-WaveObservatory (LIGO) detected the first gravitational wave signal everdirectly observed. This observation also represents the first directobservation of a black-hole binary and has opened up a qualitatively newwindow to the universe.
In the wake of the detection of gravitational waves from black hole mergers and at the door step of an era of precision electromagnetic observations of the horizon scale for black hole candidates, in particular with the Event Horizon Telescope, the gravitation groups at Aveiro University, Gr@v, and at IST-Lisbon, Grit, will organize a two days workshop on Gravitational Lensing and Black Hole Shadows, held at the University of Aveiro (Portugal), on the 3rd and 4th of November 2016.
The XXVI National Meeting of Astronomy and Astrophysics will take place at the University of Aveiro, on the 8th and 9th September 2016. This meeting is organized by the Department of Physics of the University of Aveiro and the Center for Research and Development in Mathematics and Applications (CIDMA), in partnership with the Portuguese Astronomy Society (SPA).
Our group coordinated the "Numerical Relativity and High Energy Physics" IRSES network (2012-2015). Here is a list of the global network meetings organized:
