Looking at dark matter through a new window: with gravitational waves

20 March 2023

GRAPPA researchers Gianfranco Bertone and Samaya Nissanke, also affiliated with Nikhef, will receive an NWO M grant for a new quest for dark matter with the help of gravitational waves.

This has been announced by NWO and the UvA. GRAPPA is the research institute for gravity and astroparticle physics at the University of Amsterdam, which is affiliated with Nikhef.

Dark matter is one of the great enigmas of physics. Four-fifths of all matter in the universe exerts visible gravity but is invisible. The researchers want to find out whether gravitational waves might make it visible.

Gravitational waves are vibrations of spacetime that, according to Einstein’s theory of relativity, occur when super-compact objects such as black holes or neutron stars collide deep in the universe. They were first measured in 2015 by Nikhef researchers and others, research then awarded a Nobel Prize in 2017.

The waves, measured via small and short length variations in kilometers of interferometers, offer a new window on the universe, in addition to observations with light and radio waves, for example.

The new research at GRAPPA should find out what effect dark matter in the universe has on passing gravitational waves, and how that can be distinguished from any other astrophysical influences.

The idea is that information about dark matter itself can then be inversely derived from measured gravitational waves. This also with a view to new, even more sensitive detectors for gravitational waves, such as the future Einstein Telescope.

In total, NWO awarded nineteen grants in the ENW-M Open Competition in a variety of exact science fields. Bertone and Nissanke can use the contribution to appoint two PhD students to research dark matter.