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Faculty of Mathematics

 

I'm a theoretical physicist, working at the interface between cosmology, astrophysics, high-energy physics, and quantum matter. My research looks at new ways of probing the fundamental laws of Nature, whether by using gravitational waves as powerful new astronomical messengers, or by using cutting-edge quantum technologies to simulate the early Universe.

I'm currently based at the University of Cambridge, where I hold the Gavin Boyle Fellowship in Cosmology at the Kavli Institute for Cosmology (KICC) and the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP). I am also supported by a UKRI Stephen Hawking Fellowship, and am a Fellow of Selwyn College.

Much of my current work focuses on vacuum decay, a fascinating quantum-mechanical phenomenon that is a ubiquitous feature of early-Universe cosmology. As a member of the Quantum Simulators for Fundamental Physics (QSimFP) Consortium, I am helping to develop laboratory experiments that will empirically test our understanding of vacuum decay for the first time. These experiments could have important and far-reaching implications for areas ranging from inflation and the multiverse to the stability of the Higgs field.

Another key focus of my research is gravitational-wave astronomy. I am particularly interested in using gravitational-wave observations to probe cosmology and fundamental physics, for example by searching for signals generated in the very early Universe, or by using gravitational-wave sources as tracers of cosmic structure formation. In 2023 I was awarded a Buchalter Cosmology Prize (2nd prize) for my work on detecting gravitational waves via their effect on binary systems.

I was previously a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Cosmoparticle Initiative at University College London (2021-2024). I did my PhD in Theoretical Physics at King's College London (2017-2021), and my MA and MSci in Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge (2013-2017).

Publications

First joint observation by the underground gravitational-wave detector KAGRA with GEO 600
R Abbott, H Abe, F Acernese, K Ackley, N Adhikari, RX Adhikari, VK Adkins, VB Adya, C Affeldt, D Agarwal, M Agathos, K Agatsuma, N Aggarwal, OD Aguiar, L Aiello, A Ain, P Ajith, T Akutsu, S Albanesi, RA Alfaidi, A Allocca, PA Altin, A Amato, C Anand, S Anand et al.
– Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics
(2022)
2022,
F01
Search of the early O3 LIGO data for continuous gravitational waves from the Cassiopeia A and Vela Jr. supernova remnants
R Abbott, TD Abbott, F Acernese, K Ackley, C Adams, N Adhikari, RX Adhikari, VB Adya, C Affeldt, D Agarwal, M Agathos, K Agatsuma, N Aggarwal, OD Aguiar, L Aiello, A Ain, P Ajith, S Albanesi, A Allocca, PA Altin, A Amato, C Anand, S Anand, A Ananyeva, SB Anderson et al.
– Physical Review D
(2022)
105,
082005
Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts Detected by Fermi and Swift during the LIGO-Virgo Run O3b
R Abbott, TD Abbott, F Acernese, K Ackley, C Adams, N Adhikari, RX Adhikari, VB Adya, C Affeldt, D Agarwal, M Agathos, K Agatsuma, N Aggarwal, OD Aguiar, L Aiello, A Ain, P Ajith, T Akutsu, S Albanesi, A Allocca, PA Altin, A Amato, C Anand, S Anand, A Ananyeva et al.
– Astrophysical Journal
(2022)
928,
186
Cosmology with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
P Auclair, D Bacon, T Baker, T Barreiro, N Bartolo, E Belgacem, N Bellomo, I Ben-Dayan, D Bertacca, M Besancon, JJ Blanco-Pillado, D Blas, G Boileau, G Calcagni, R Caldwell, C Caprini, C Carbone, C-F Chang, H-Y Chen, N Christensen, S Clesse, D Comelli, G Congedo, C Contaldi, M Crisostomi et al.
(2022)
Search for continuous gravitational wave emission from the Milky Way center in O3 LIGO--Virgo data
TLIGOS Collaboration, TV Collaboration, TKAGRA Collaboration, R Abbott, H Abe, F Acernese, K Ackley, N Adhikari, RX Adhikari, VK Adkins, VB Adya, C Affeldt, D Agarwal, M Agathos, K Agatsuma, N Aggarwal, OD Aguiar, L Aiello, A Ain, P Ajith, T Akutsu, S Albanesi, RA Alfaidi, A Allocca, PA Altin et al.
(2022)
Constraints on dark photon dark matter using data from LIGO’s and Virgo’s third observing run
R Abbott, TD Abbott, F Acernese, K Ackley, C Adams, N Adhikari, RX Adhikari, VB Adya, C Affeldt, D Agarwal, M Agathos, K Agatsuma, N Aggarwal, OD Aguiar, L Aiello, A Ain, P Ajith, T Akutsu, S Albanesi, A Allocca, PA Altin, A Amato, C Anand, S Anand, A Ananyeva et al.
– Physical Review D
(2022)
105,
063030
Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Fast Radio Bursts Detected by CHIME/FRB During the LIGO--Virgo Observing Run O3a
TLIGOS Collaboration, TV Collaboration, TKAGRA Collaboration, TCHIMEFRB Collaboration, R Abbott, TD Abbott, F Acernese, K Ackley, C Adams, N Adhikari, RX Adhikari, VB Adya, C Affeldt, D Agarwal, M Agathos, K Agatsuma, N Aggarwal, OD Aguiar, L Aiello, A Ain, P Ajith, T Akutsu, S Albanesi, A Allocca, PA Altin et al.
(2022)
Search for intermediate-mass black hole binaries in the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
R Abbott, TD Abbott, F Acernese, K Ackley, C Adams, N Adhikari, RX Adhikari, VB Adya, C Affeldt, D Agarwal, M Agathos, K Agatsuma, N Aggarwal, OD Aguiar, L Aiello, A Ain, P Ajith, T Akutsu, S Albanesi, A Allocca, PA Altin, A Amato, C Anand, S Anand, A Ananyeva et al.
– Astronomy & Astrophysics
(2022)
659,
a84
Detecting stochastic gravitational waves with binary resonance
D Blas, AC Jenkins
– Physical Review D
(2022)
105,
064021
Bridging the μHz Gap in the Gravitational-Wave Landscape with Binary Resonances
D Blas, AC Jenkins
– Phys Rev Lett
(2022)
128,
101103
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Research Group

Relativity and Gravitation

Room

BL.33

Telephone

01223 765317