Welcome to the Gravity and Cosmology Group.
Emeritus professors
Research students
Supervisor: Chris Stevens (many of the below are co-supervised by Prof. Jörg Frauendiener, University of Otago)
- Jesse Satherley, Ph.D., "Astrophysical implications of non-linear gravitational and electromagnetic scattering" (2024-)
- Breanna Camden, MSc., "The Physical interpretation of the Newman-Penrose constants and Newman's H-space", (2024-)
- Lachlan Campion, MSc. "The generalised conformal field equations in the presence of trace-free matter fields" , (2024-)
- Joseph Galinski, MSc. "Angular momentum in general relativity", (2024-)
- Jonathan Brook, Math. Phys. Hons, "Identifying singularities in General Relativity", (2024-)
- Tanmayee Boddu, Math. Phys. Hons, "Global linearised gravitational wave scattering in an expanding universe", (2024-)
- Merlyn Barrer, MMathSci, "Constructing initial data on past null infinity" (2023-)
- Areeba Merriam, Ph.D., "A numerical implementation of the Friedrich-Nagy gauge" (2023-)
- Sebenele Thwala, Ph.D., "Scattering of gravitational waves in asymptotically flat space-times" (2023-)
Supervisor: David Wiltshire
- Marco Galoppo
- Christopher Harvey-Hawes
- Morag Hills
- Zachary Lane
- Michael Williams
- Manon Van Zyl
- Tegan Gould
Completed after 2022 (Chris Stevens):
- Ollie Markwell, MSc., "Numerically Investigating The Conformal Field Equations Near Spatial Infinity" (2024)
- Jack Zidich, MSc., "Toward a numerical implementation of Cauchy-characteristic matching" (2024)
- Breanna Camden, Math. Phys. Hons, "Colliding non-linear gravitational and electromagnetic plane waves in plane symmetry" (2023)
- Lachlan Campion, Math. Phys. Hons, "Conformal geodesics and the conformal Gauss gauge" (2023)
- Jack Aimer, MMathSci, "Quasinormal modes of black holes" (2023)
- Alex Goodenbour, MSc., "Covariant charges on the null boundary of space-time" Co-supervised by David Wiltshire (2022)
Recent Publications
- Frauendiener J., Goodenbour A. and Stevens C. (2024) The non-linear perturbation of a black hole by gravitational waves. III. Newman–Penrose constants. Classical and Quantum Gravity 41(6) http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6382/ad2288.
- Frauendiener J. and Stevens C. (2023) The non-linear perturbation of a black hole by gravitational waves. II. Quasinormal modes and the compactification problem. Classical and Quantum Gravity 40(12) http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6382/acd4b1.
- Stevens C. and Markwell O. (2023) Toward a framework for conformal cyclic cosmology. Bulletin on General Relativity and Gravitation http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10714-023-03142-3.
Preprints
- Zachary G. Lane, Antonia Seifert, Ryan Ridden-Harper, Jenny Wagner, David L. Wiltshire (2023) Cosmological foundations revisited with Pantheon+ https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.01438.
- Christopher Harvey-Hawes, David L. Wiltshire (2024) Revisiting the effect of lens mass models in cosmological applications of strong gravitational lensing https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.11997.
- Michael J. Williams, Hayley J. Macpherson, David L. Wiltshire, and Chris Stevens (2024) First investigation of void statistics in numerical relativity simulations https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.15134.
- David L. Wiltshire (2024) Solution to the cosmological constant problem https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.02129.
- Leon Escobar-Diaz and Chris Stevens (2024) Approximations of the quasi-local Bartnik mass in general relativity https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.11372.
News, events and seminars
Marsden success!
2 November 2023: David Wiltshire and Chris Stevens have secured a total of $1.3 million in funding over three years through a standard and fast-start Marsden grant respectively. David's project is on "Changing the face of the Universe: Cosmological simulations from first principles in general relativity" and Chris' is on "Shedding new light on fundamental physics through the scattering of gravitational waves".
-
Stellar Kiwi’s crucial black hole theory turns 60
Spend an evening with Canterbury Distinguished Professor Roy Kerr, renowned for his influential work in astrophysics, solving Einstein’s equation of relativity relating to rotating black holes 60 years ago. (These are now called Kerr Black Holes.)
-
Stellar Kiwi’s crucial black hole theory turns 60
Spend an evening with Canterbury Distinguished Professor Roy Kerr, renowned for his influential work in astrophysics, solving Einstein’s equation of relativity relating to rotating black holes 60 years ago. (These are now called Kerr Black Holes.)
-
Stellar Kiwi’s crucial black hole theory turns 60
-
UC maths student awarded scholarship to study at Cambridge
Jack Aimer is one of nine recipients nationwide to receive a competitive William Georgetti Scholarship from Universities New Zealand.
-
UC maths student awarded scholarship to study at Cambridge
Jack Aimer is one of nine recipients nationwide to receive a competitive William Georgetti Scholarship from Universities New Zealand.
-
UC maths student awarded scholarship to study at Cambridge
