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

Spatially resolved polarization swings in the supermassive binary black hole candidate OJ 287 with first Event Horizon Telescope observations, J. L. Gómez et al. (w/ H. Olivares); Astron. Atrophys. 705 (2026) A23.

Publication type
Regular Articles
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Ring Asymmetry and Spin in M87*, V. Bernshteyn et al. (w/ H. Olivares); arXiv:2601.00394 [astro-ph.HE].

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Regular Articles
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From Rotating Attractors to Extremal Black Holes with Axionic Hair, E. S. Costa Filho; arXiv:2601.00066 [gr-qc].

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Regular Articles
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Spinning extremal dyonic black holes in γ=1 Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory, J. L. Blázquez-Salcedo, C. Herdeiro, E. Radu, E. S. Costa Filho, K. Uzawa; arXiv:2512.20698 [gr-qc].

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Regular Articles
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Probing jet base emission of M87* with the 2021 Event Horizon Telescope observations, Saurabhn et al. (w/ H. Olivares); Accepted for publication in Astron. Astrophys., arXiv:2512.08970 [astro-ph.HE].

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Regular Articles
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Latest Strong Gravity News & Events

Binary Boson stars in Strong Field: Post-Minkowskian, Effective-one-body formalism, and Numerical Relativity

GGD - Gr@V Seminar
Speaker
Tamanna Jain (LPENS)
Event date
Venue
Hybrid: Sala Sousa Pinto and Teams
Event Website
Teams link
Event type
Seminars

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.

Strong Gravity
Astrophysics

10 years of SPRG and GW observations

Celebrations

The 10th anniversary of the Portuguese Society of Relativity and Gravitation (SPRG), along with the anniversary of the first gravitational wave (GW) detection, was celebrated with a specially made cake at the XVIII Black Holes Workshop.

Strong Gravity
Other
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