Astrophysics is an area concerning various physical ranging from planetary sized systems, to galactic scale systems and beyond, that intersects various disciplines such as Newtonian dynamics, relativistic physics and particle physics processes.
For our latest developments/activities in this area, please see the listing below at the end of this article.
An exoplanet is a planet outside the Solar System. In the Milky Way galaxy, it is expected that there are many billions of planets (at least one planet, on average, orbiting around each star, resulting in 100–400 billion exoplanets), with many more free-floating planetary-mass bodies orbiting the galaxy directly.
We study the long-term dynamics of known multi-planet systems. This allow us to test the accuracy of the orbital parameters' determinations, as well as to understand how these systems evolved. We also look for the stable zones in the gaps between already-known planets in order to determine where is it possible to locate Earth-like planets.
See here a movie made by the PhD Animation on "Exoplanets Explained", for a review on the main observational methods used to detect exoplanets.
C. Herdeiro visited the U. Federal do Pará, Brazil, and presented a seminar on Oct 23rd about the recent paper "Black holes in scalar multipolar Universes". The beautiful blossomed tree is "Pau Brasil" that names the country, due to its ember-colour wood.
It has been believed that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the majority of nearby galaxies in the universe are powered by accretion flows. Observational evidence and many numerical simulations show of elliptical galaxies have revealed a surprising fact, in the densest regions of massive elliptical galaxies the hot gas rotates very slowly.
A team of Gr@v Ph.D. students led by José Ferreira, featuring also Manuel Mariano and Nuno Santos participated in the European Researchers Night at Fábrica, the Aveiro outreach science centre. Amongst the attractions, there was the lensing effect due to a black hole that caught the public's attention.
Sergio Xavier, who obtained his Ph.D. from U. Federal do Pará, Brazil, under the supervision of Prof. L. Crispino in August 2024, received a best poster award in the XLII Brazilian National Meeting on the Physics of Particles and Fields. The poster was on work in collaboration with our group.