Research
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The detection and interpretation of gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries

Gravitational waves are distortions in the curvature of spacetime which propagate in a wave-like fashion, at the speed of light. They are generated by phenomena such as fast-spinning neutron stars, mergers of two neutron stars or black holes, and indeed the Big Bang itself. A network of advanced interferometers is being assembled, comprising the already active Advanced LIGO in the US and Advanced Virgo as well as GEO-HF in Europe, the KAGRA interferometer which is under construction in Japan, and the planned LIGO-India. In addition, plans are materializing for Einstein Telescope, a large third-generation ground-based instrument.


Left: A depiction of the strongly curved, dynamical spacetime near two merging black holes. Middle: The gravitational waves - ripples in the fabric of spacetime - that are produced in the process propagate out into the Universe, carrying a wealth of information about the source. Right: The Virgo gravitational wave detector in Cascina, Italy.


My research focuses on exploiting gravitational wave observations for fundamental physics (by studying the strong-field dynamics of gravity), astrophysics (e.g. determining the equation of state of neutron stars), and cosmology (precision measurements of the parameters that determine the evolution of the Universe, such as the equation of state of dark energy). I am also involved in studying what kind of science could be done with a possible third generation observatory such as Einstein Telescope.

The gravitational waves data analysis group at Nikhef and Utrecht University currently consists of the following people:
  • Senior researchers: Chris Van Den Broeck, Sarah Caudill
  • Postdocs: Otto Hannuksela, M.K. Haris, Chinmay Kalaghatgi, Khun Sang Phukon, Amit Reza, Soumen Roy, Yoshinta Setyawati
  • PhD students: Tomasz Baka, Pawan Gupta, Justin Janquart, Melissa Lopez Portilla, Quirijn Meijer, Harsh Narola, Peter Pang, Anna Puecher, Stefano Schmidt