Gr@v is a team of researchers, based at the Mathematics and Physics Department of Aveiro University, Portugal, working on strong gravity and high energy physics. The group was established in 2010. In January 2015 Gr@v integrated the FCT funded CIDMA research unit (UIDB/04106/2020 and UIDP/04106/2020), as the Gravitational Geometry and Dynamics research group. The group scientific coordinator is C. Herdeiro.
The detection of gravitational waves has been one of the most exciting scientific developments of the XXIst century. These detections are theory-driven, they rely on the existence of waveform libraries, which have been constructed for binary black holes and neutron stars. Gr@v members have collaborated on the construction of the first waveform catalogue for exotic compact objects, an effort led by former Gr@v member Nicolas Sanchis Gual (now at the U. Valencia).
In the 5th FCT individual contest for stimulous of research, Miguel Zilhão, Guilherme Raposo and Hector Olivares obtained 6 years research positions to join Gr@v.
To close the academic year 2021/22 the group got together for the (by now) traditional sea food lunch, by the sea side in Barra, Aveiro. And this time we had the pleasure of having with us our friend and secretary, Cristina Grosso!
In the paper "The fate of the light-ring instability" Gr@v members P. Cunha, C. Herdeiro and E. Radu, together with former member, currently at the U. Valencia, N. Sanchis-Gual, have unveiled the mystery of the fate of a large class of horizonless ultracompact objects, that could be potential black hole foils.
A long standing intriguing possibility is if the astrophysical black hole candidates could be some other kind of mysterious objects but without event horizons, the defining property of black holes.
The project "Gravitational waves, black holes, and fundamental physics" led by M. Zilhão (co-PI C.Herdeiro), fully based at Aveiro U., was one of the six Scientific Research and Technological Development Projects selected for funding in the 2022 FCT Call for R&D projects in the Physics panel. All results can be seen here.
C. Herdeiro was the invited speaker for the Research Center of Gravitation at Lanzhou University, China, webinar on 27/7/2022.
Great way to close the 2021/22 academic year with a sunny (and refreshing) group trip to Barragem da Caniçada and Waterfalls da Portela do Homem in the beautiful Gerês. Enjoy the holidays!
As the academic year 2021/22 draws to a close our group is welcoming the visits of Yasha Shnir (Oldenburg, Germany), Jorge Castelo (Santigo de Compostela, Spain) and Sergio Gimeno Soler (IST-Lisbon and Valencia, Spain).
Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions fund post-doctoral fellowships. A call is currently open (until 14 September 2022). Aveiro University and our group can host appropriate candidates for these grants. Please contact the group coordinator (C. Herdeiro) in case you are interested in applying.
Gr@v members J. Pino, V. Vatellis and A. Morais participated in the FLASY 2022 (Lisbon) and ICHEP 2022 (Bologna) international conferences with a total of 6 parallel and 1 plenary presentation.