Strong Gravity

The group's research on strong gravity involves finding analytical and numerical solutions of Einstein's theory of general relativity, and many of its extensions, either in vacuum or coupled to various types of matter. For our latest developments/activities in this area, please see the listing at the end of this article.

The prime examples of (relativistic) strong gravitational systems are Black Holes. They are truly unifying objects of all physics. The understanding of their formation and dynamics requires the laws of all four fundamental forces, and their physics is relevant not only for astrophysics and cosmology but for a variety of topics within high energy physics.

See here a movie made by the COST action `Black holes in a violent universe', in which our group participates, for a visual overview of different types of black holes.

Latest Strong Gravity Publications

Two asymptotically flat spinning black holes balanced by their self-interacting, synchronised scalar hair, C. Liang, C. Herdeiro, E. Radu; arXiv:2605.20374 [gr-qc].

Publication type
Regular Articles
Read more

Electromagnetic duality degeneracy in dynamical black hole mergers, J. Ferreira, G. Bozzola, C. A. R. Herdeiro, V. Paschalidis, M. Zilhão; arXiv:2605.20493 [gr-qc].

Publication type
Regular Articles
Read more

Vacuum, ma non troppo: hidden matter distribution in symmetry-transformed electrovacuum spacetimes, C. A. R. Herdeiro, J. P. A. Novo; arXiv:2605.18967 [gr-qc].

Publication type
Regular Articles
Read more

Multipolar Proca stars: electric, magnetic and hybrid solitons, C. Herdeiro, E. Radu, E. S. Costa Filho, N. Sanchis-Gual; arXiv:2605.13965 [gr-qc]

Publication type
Regular Articles
Read more

Spontaneous spherical symmetry breaking of black holes with resonant hair, J. Ferreira, C. A. R. Herdeiro, E. Radu, M. Zilhão; arXiv:2604.22437 [gr-qc].

Publication type
Regular Articles
Read more

Latest Strong Gravity News & Events

O(3) boson stars and hairy black holes

GGD - Gr@V Seminar
Speaker
Yasha Shnir (Dubna)
Event date
Venue
Hybrid: Sala Sousa Pinto and Teams
Event Website
Event type

We present and study new nontopological soliton solutions in the U(1) gauged nonlinear O(3) sigma-model with a symmetry breaking potential in 3+1 dimensional space-time. The configurations are endowed with an electric and magnetic field and also carry a nonvanishing angular momentum density.

Spectral signatures of gravitational-decoupling hairy black holes

GGD - Gr@V Seminar
Speaker
Gabriel Pacheco Ribeiro (Universidade Federal do Pará)
Event date
Venue
Hybrid: Sala Sousa Pinto and Teams
Event Website
Event type

We investigate the absorption of massless scalar waves by three distinct hairy black hole solutions obtained through the gravitational decoupling method, considering  the weak, the strong or the dominant energy conditions.

Charged boson stars: properties and stability

GGD - Gr@V Seminar
Speaker
Carlos Joaquin (Nuclear Sciences Institute, UNAM)
Event date
Venue
Hybrid: Sala Sousa Pinto and Teams
Event Website
Event type

Charged boson stars serve as models for exploring how self-interaction and electromagnetic charge influence the stability and evolution of compact objects. In this seminar, I will present results from numerical relativity simulations identifying a critical charge that serves as a threshold for stable configurations.