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​Unveiling the dark universe with gravitational waves
​
​​Black holes and compact stars as laboratories for fundamental physics

The landmark detection of gravitational waves has opened a new era in physics, giving access to the hitherto unexplored strong-gravity regime, where spacetime curvature is extreme and the relevant speed is close to the speed of light. In parallel to its countless astrophysical applications, this discovery can have also important implication for fundamental physics.

The aim of the
 DarkGRA* project - funded by the European Research Council (ERC-2017-StG 757480) - is to investigate novel phenomena related to strong gravitational sources such as black holes and neutron stars - that can be used to turn these objects into cosmic labs, where matter in extreme conditions, particle physics, and the very foundations of Einstein's theory of gravity can be put to the test.

We are exploring some outstanding, cross-cutting problems in fundamental physics: the nature of black holes and of spacetime singularities, the limits of classical gravity, the existence of extra light fields, and the effects of dark matter near compact objects.  

Research topics:
  • Gravitational wave echoes & quantum-gravity models of exotic compact objects
  • Strong-gravity signatures of ultralight bosons
  • Gravitational-wave modelling of exotic compact sources
  • Black-hole physics (superradiance, tidal deformability, perturbation theory)​​
  • Strong-field tests of gravity

We are part of the Gravity theory and gravitational wave phenomenology Group at Sapienza.

* Beside the catchword for gravity, GRA stands also for Grande Raccordo Anulare (lit., Great Ring Junction): a 68 km long motorway that encircles Rome and whose traffic jam reflects the infamous contradictions of the Eternal City.
Picture
Picture
​​PI: 
Paolo Pani, PhD
Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome

Latest News & Events:
  • July 2019: A paper entitled "Testing the nature of dark compact objects: a status report" by Vitor Cardoso (IST, Lisbon & CERN) and Paolo Pani (Sapienza University of Rome) has been recently published in Living Reviews in Relativity. The results of this analysis will be presented in a plenary talk at the GR22/Amaldi13 Conference held this week in Valencia.
  • Apr 2019: a piece about our research by Anthony King for the EU Horizon Magazine
  • Jun 2018: a great New Scientist article on GW echoes, by Daniel Cossins; and an ANSA news also showing our echo waveforms
  • ​Jun 2018: Workshop announced: "Fundamental Physics with LISA"  at GGI (Arcetri, Florence) 12-14 Nov 2018. 
  • Mar 2018: an update about gravitational-wave searches for echoes by Sabine Hossenfelder on Quanta Magazine​
  • Feb 2018: the paper "Probing Planckian corrections at the horizon scale with LISA binaries" by Maselli+ has been selected as an Editors' Suggestion in Physical Review Letters
  • Nov 2017: broadcast of the opening talk by P. Pani on GW echoes at the Workshop "Quantum Black Holes in the Sky?" (Perimeter Institute)
  • Sep 2017:  Tests for the existence of black holes through gravitational wave echoes on Nature Astronomy
  • Sep 2017:  calls for postdoc positions to join DarkGRA team
  • Aug 2017: the DarkGRA project was funded by ERC (ERC-2017-StG)
AS OUR ISLAND OF KNOWLEDGE GROWS, SO DOES THE SHORE OF OUR IGNORANCE
​
-  JOHN WHEELER
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