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
Multipolar Proca stars: electric, magnetic and hybrid solitons, C. Herdeiro, E. Radu, E. S. Costa Filho, N. Sanchis-Gual; arXiv:2605.13965 [gr-qc]
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].
Full-polarization millimeter wavelength variability of Sagittarius A* during the 2018 EHT campaign, E. Albentosa-Ruiz et al. (w/ H. Olivares); Astron. Astrophys. 708 (2026) A179; arXiv:2604.10287 [astro-ph.GA].
Detection of a second jet within the nuclear core of Mrk 501, S. Britzen, H. Olivares, Gopal-Krishna, F. Jaron, I. N. Pashchenko, E. Kun, F. K. Schinzel, J. Becerra González, D. Paneque, N. R. MacDonald; Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2026) stag291.
Phase Structure of Scalarized Black Holes in Einstein-Scalar-Gauss-Bonnet Gravity, C. Herdeiro, H. Huang, J. Kunz, M. Lai, E. Radu, D. Zou; arXiv:2603.24164 [gr-qc].
Latest Strong Gravity News & Events
Charged boson stars: properties and stability
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.
New class of rotating charged black holes in the external Bertotti-Robinson (electro)magnetic field
We present a large family of twisting and expanding solutions to the Einstein-Maxwell equations of algebraic type D, for which the two double principal null directions (PNDs) of the Weyl tensor are not aligned with the null eigendirections of the Faraday tensor. In addition to systematically deriving this new class, we present its various metric forms and convenient parameterizations.
Binary boson stars: from initial data to gravitational wave signatures
Gravitational-wave (GW) observations have significantly advanced our understanding of stellar-origin compact objects. Current detectors could, in principle, also observe exotic compact objects (ECOs) acting as black-hole mimickers and interacting only gravitationally with visible matter.
Squeezing solution generating techniques: A road to enlarge the spectrum of exact vacuum solutions in GR and to construct dynamical primordial objects.
This talk presents two distinct problems in gravitational physics that are connected through the use of solution-generating techniques within Einstein–Maxwell–scalar theory. First, we construct new vacuum solutions of Einstein’s equations starting from electrovacuum configurations embedded in external electromagnetic backgrounds.