skip to content
Home

Faculty of Mathematics

 

Dr Alexander Jenkins

I'm a theoretical physicist, working at the interface between cosmology, high-energy physics, and quantum matter. My research looks at new ways of probing the fundamental laws of Nature, whether that's using gravitational waves as cosmic messengers, or using 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 an EPSRC 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 am now part of an international team of 40+ scientists developing the GUEST mission concept (Gravitational Universe Exploration with Satellite Tracking), which will use these ideas to search for microhertz gravitational waves, ultralight dark matter, and deviations from general relativity.

I'm a core organiser of CamGW, an interdepartmental network for gravitational-wave researchers in Cambridge. I'm also a co-organiser of GW:UK, which plays a similar role on a national scale, connecting gravitational-wave researchers across the UK.

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

Search for Lensing Signatures in the Gravitational-Wave Observations from the First Half of LIGO-Virgo's Third Observing Run
R Abbott, TD Abbott, S Abraham, F Acernese, K Ackley, A Adams, C Adams, RX Adhikari, VB Adya, C Affeldt, D Agarwal, M Agathos, K Agatsuma, N Aggarwal, OD Aguiar, L Aiello, A Ain, P Ajith, KM Aleman, G Allen, A Allocca, PA Altin, A Amato, S Anand, A Ananyeva et al.
– Astrophysical Journal
(2021)
923,
14
(doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac23db)
All-sky search for gravitational wave emission from scalar boson clouds around spinning black holes in LIGO O3 data
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration, the KAGRA 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.
(2021)
(doi: 10.48550/arxiv.2111.15507)
Search of the Early O3 LIGO Data for Continuous Gravitational Waves from the Cassiopeia A and Vela Jr. Supernova Remnants
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo 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, S Albanesi, A Allocca, PA Altin, A Amato, C Anand, S Anand et al.
(2021)
(doi: 10.48550/arxiv.2111.15116)
Searches for Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars at Two Harmonics in the Second and Third LIGO-Virgo Observing Runs
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration, the KAGRA 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.
(2021)
(doi: 10.48550/arxiv.2111.13106)
Constraints from LIGO O3 Data on Gravitational-wave Emission Due to R-modes in the Glitching Pulsar PSR J0537–6910
R Abbott, TD Abbott, S Abraham, F Acernese, K Ackley, A Adams, C Adams, RX Adhikari, VB Adya, C Affeldt, D Agarwal, M Agathos, K Agatsuma, N Aggarwal, OD Aguiar, L Aiello, A Ain, P Ajith, T Akutsu, KM Aleman, G Allen, A Allocca, PA Altin, A Amato, S Anand et al.
– The Astrophysical Journal
(2021)
922,
71
(doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac0d52)
Search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 in the second Advanced LIGO observing run with an improved hidden Markov model (vol 100, 122002, 2019)
BP Abbott, R Abbott, TD Abbott, S Abraham, F Acernese, K Ackley, C Adams, RX Adhikari, VB Adya, C Affeldt, M Agathos, K Agatsuma, N Aggarwal, OD Aguiar, L Aiello, A Ain, P Ajith, G Allen, A Allocca, MA Aloy, PA Altin, A Amato, A Ananyeva, SB Anderson, WG Anderson et al.
– Physical Review D
(2021)
104,
109903
(doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.104.109903)
All-sky search for long-duration gravitational-wave bursts in the third Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo 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
(2021)
104,
102001
(doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.104.102001)
The population of merging compact binaries inferred using gravitational waves through GWTC-3
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration, the KAGRA 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, A Amato et al.
(2021)
(doi: 10.48550/arxiv.2111.03634)
(link to publication)
GWTC-3: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the Second Part of the Third Observing Run
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration, the KAGRA 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, S Akcay, T Akutsu, S Albanesi, A Allocca, PA Altin et al.
(2021)
(doi: 10.48550/arxiv.2111.03606)
Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts Detected by Fermi and Swift During the LIGO-Virgo Run O3b
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration, the KAGRA 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, A Amato et al.
(2021)
(doi: 10.48550/arxiv.2111.03608)
  • <
  • 9 of 22
  • >

Research Group

Relativity and Gravitation

Room

BL.33

Telephone

01223 765317

Study at Cambridge

About the University

Research at Cambridge