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

First polarization study of the M87 jet and active galactic nuclei at submillimeter wavelengths with ALMA, C. Goddi et al. (w/ H. Olivares); arXiv:2505.10181 [astro-ph.GA]

Publication type
Regular Articles
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Origin of the ring ellipticity in the black hole images of M87*, R. Dahale et al. (w/ H. Olivares); arXiv:2505.10333 [astro-ph.HE].

Publication type
Regular Articles
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Black hole mimickers: from theory to observation, C. Bambi et al. (w/ H. R. Olivares-Sánchez); arXiv:2505.09014 [gr-qc].

Publication type
Proceedings
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Eccentric mergers of binary Proca stars, G. Palloni, N. Sanchis-Gual, J. A. Font, C. Herdeiro, E. Radu; arXiv:2504.10235 [gr-qc].

Publication type
Regular Articles
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Observing boson stars in binary systems: The case of Gaia BH1, P. Passos, H. R. Olivares-Sánchez, J. A. Font, A. Onofre; arXiv:2504.09521 [astro-ph.HE].

Publication type
Regular Articles
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See Strong Gravity publications

Latest Strong Gravity News & Events

Quantum fermion superradiance in charged black holes

GGD - Gr@V Seminar
Speaker
Álvaro Álvarez-Domínguez (Universidad Complutense de Madrid & IPARCOS)
Event date
Venue
Hybrid: room 11.2.23 and Zoom
Event Website
https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/95541308539?pwd=GXnfP6VYVU82NHwP3ZEevFxw3si…
Event type
Seminars
In contrast to a classical charged bosonic field, a classical charged fermionic field does not exhibit superradiant scattering when placed in the background of a static charged black hole. However, we show that a quantum version of this effect does occur.
Strong Gravity
Other

Stability of Boson Stars as Black Hole Mimickers

GGD - Gr@V Seminar
Speaker
Gareth Marks (University of Cambridge, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics)
Event date
Venue
Hybrid: room 11.2.25 and Zoom
Event Website
https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/95541308539?pwd=GXnfP6VYVU82NHwP3ZEevFxw3si…
Event type
Seminars

We discuss recent results on using boson stars with a solitonic potential as models of ultracompact objects, which could mimic black holes in such phenomenology as VLBI images and gravitational wave signals.

Strong Gravity
Astrophysics
See Strong Gravity News & Events