Gr@v students at Benasque
Gr@v students M. Brito, J. Ferreira and M. Mariano were amongst the participants of the New Frontiers in Strong Gravity meeting in Benasque, in July 2026.
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
Analytic backreaction of a scalar wig on a Schwarzschild black hole, M. de Cesare, M. Del Piano, C. A. R. Herdeiro; arXiv:2607.25932 [gr-qc].
Publication type
Regular Articles
Relativistic and Newtonian Proca Stars: A Tale of Two Limits, A. Diez-Tejedor, C. Herdeiro, C. Lazarte, E. Radu, A. A. Roque, N. Sanchis-Gual, E. dos Santos Costa Filho; arXiv:2606.13785 [gr-qc].
Publication type
Regular Articles
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
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
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
Latest Strong Gravity News & Events
João Novo PhD exam
João Novo successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis with title Light rings, shadows and geodesic structure
of four and five dimensional spacetimes on July 27th 2026. The Ph.D. committe was composed by Astrid Eichhorn, Volker Perlick, Petya Georgieva, António Morais, Pedro Cunha (co-advisor) and João Matias (president). The thesis was advised by C. Herdeiro. Congratulations João!
From Kerr to Non-Integrable Spacetimes: Extending Ray Tracing Beyond Integrability
Speaker
Kara Nelson (Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts Boston/Black Hole Initiative)
Event date
Venue
Hybrid: Sala Sousa Pinto and Teams
Event Website
Event type
Recent investigations into non-vacuum general relativity and parametrized spacetimes have reported viable black hole solutions that admit multiple photon spheres.
Time delay as a probe of multiple photon spheres
Speaker
Kajol Paithankar (Indian Institute of Astrophysics)
Event date
Venue
Hybrid: Sala Sousa Pinto and Teams
Event Website
Event type
Recent investigations into non-vacuum general relativity and parametrized spacetimes have reported viable black hole solutions that admit multiple photon spheres. Investigations of these black holes through their shadows often suffer from parameter degeneracy.
X Amazonian Workshop on Gravity and Analogue Models in Belém
The X Amazonian Workshop on Gravity and Analogue Models took place in Belém, Brazil. Since 2012 these events have gathered the international community on the topic, often with the participation of Gr@v (including the first edition). This edition was also part of the NewFunFiCO network.