The paper "Exotic compact objects and the fate of the light ring instability" has been selected as Editor's suggestion in Physical Review Letters (published February 7th 2023) and was also featured in Physics Magazine, an online publication from the American Physical Society (APS) that reports on papers in the Physical Review Journals.
The gr@v paper "Asymptotically flat black holes with scalar hair: a review" reached the landmark of 500 citations in the INSPIRE database. The paper was a 2015 IJMPD highlight also figures in the 10 IJMPD most cited papers in the last 3 years.
Since 2015, the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration has detected 90 signals from merging compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars. Each of these is analyzed using Bayesian inference, employing a stochastic algorithm such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo to compare data against models—thereby characterizing the source.
The detection of gravitational waves is a powerful tool in our quest to deepen our understanding of fundamental physics. To make the most out of this tool, we need to accurately simulate the whole process of gravitational wave emission, propagation and detection by interferometers.
Gravitational waves carry unique information about the compact objects that generate them and the underlying gravitational theory describing them, which has allowed us to test General Relativity and the nature of black holes with unprecedented precision. In addition, they can also bear precious information about the astrophysical environments where binaries coalesce.
Analytical predictions of the gravitational waveform (amplitude and phasing) are key ingredients for building the templates used in gravitational detectors.
We use physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) to compute the first quasi-normal modes of the Kerr geometry via the Teukolsky equation. This technique allows us to extract the complex frequencies and separation constants of the equation without the need for sophisticated numerical techniques, and with an almost immediate implementation under the \texttt{PyTorch} framework.
The NewFunFiCO Staff Exchange network had its kick off meeting on January 19th 2023. The meeting was virtual, but it promised very interesting real work and synergies to come in the next four years!
Asymmetric binaries provide a unique phenomenology within the family-tree of coalescing systems, which makes them golden targets for future gravitational wave interferometers. Assembled by a compact object orbiting around a more massive body, they can emit gravitational waves from the milliHz to the Hz regime, depending on the size of their components.