Astrophysical environments provide an arena to test vacuum General Relativity with gravitational waves. In this talk, I will discuss what binary black hole observations can probe beyond the vacuum paradigm, and where fundamental limitations arise.
Our understanding of the cosmos is shaped by what we are able to observe in the sky. Resolving progressively smaller astrophysical structures requires instruments with increasingly high angular resolution. However, even an ideal telescope is limited by nature through diffraction, which ties its resolving power to the diameter of its collecting aperture.
In January-February we received the visits of Andrea Maselli (Grand Sasso, Italy), Gabriel Ribeiro (UFPA, Brazil) and Juan José Vázquez (INAOE, Mexico). Knowledge transfer in action!
On February 3rd, 2026, our group, together with a few special guests, gathered to bid farewell to our dear colleague Ana Bokulic, who is returning to her hometown of Zagreb. It was a lovely occasion to share memories and good wishes. We also said goodbye to our friend Romain Gervalle (in absentia) as he returns to France. We look forward to welcoming you both again soon!
On January 20th, 2026, the art–science exhibition was officially (re)opened at Fábrica - Centro Ciência Viva de Aveiro. The event was hosted by Fábrica’s director, Pedro Pombo, and brought together the head of the Department of Mathematics, Alexandre Almeida, and the director of CIDMA, Delfim Torres, along with several colleagues. This initiative is another step in sharing the beauty of science with a broader audience, strengthening the connection between scientific research and society.
Black holes are not merely cosmic sinks; they are the universe's most efficient reservoirs of energy, characterized by their mass, angular momentum (spin), electric charge, and surrounding magnetic fields. We explore the theoretical frameworks for tapping into these vast reserves.
In this talk, I will present our recent work on scattering of two boson stars by taking into account three effects: point-mass gravitational, tidal, and short-range scalar-field interactions. We first derive the analytical expressions of the scattering angle using PM-EFT techniques, providing the first analytical treatment of boson stars as a two-body problem.
Our group coordinated the "Numerical Relativity and High Energy Physics" IRSES network (2012-2015). Here is a list of the global network meetings organized:
