Welcome to the Gravity and Cosmology Group.
Gravity and Cosmology Group
Emeritus professors
Research students
- Jesse Satherley, Ph.D., "Astrophysical implications of non-linear gravitational and electromagnetic scattering" (2024-)
- 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-)
- Tanmayee Boddu, MSc, "Light propagation and cosmic structure in numerical relativity simulations", (2025-)
- Jonathan Brook, MSc, "Asymptotic quantities in Ehlers' frame theory", (2025-)
- Marco Galoppo, Ph.D., "General relativistic modelling in cosmology", (2023-)
- Morag Hills, Ph.D. "Cosmography and ray-tracing in Szekeres space-times", (2023-)
- Zachary Lane, Ph.D. "Transients and cosmology", (co-supervised with Ryan Ridden-Harper), (2023-)
- James Thomas, Honours project, "Conformal geodesics in asymptotically flat space-times" with Mariem Magdy (Perimeter Institute) (2025)
- George Bassett-Smith, Honours project, "The S3 topology in general relativity" with Pierre Mourier (UC) and Florian Beyer (Otago) (2025)
- Breanna Camden, MSc., "The physical interpretation of the Newman-Penrose constants and Newman's H-space", (2024-2025)
- Lachlan Campion, MSc. "The generalised conformal field equations in the presence of trace-free matter fields" , (2024-2025)
- Joseph Galinski, MSc. "Angular momentum in asymptotically flat space-times", (2024-2025)
- Jonathan Brook, Honours project, "Penrose singualrity theorems in the Kerr metric", (2024)
- Tanmayee Boddu, Honours project, "Investigation into a spectral method involving spin-weighted spherical harmonics for solving PDEs on S3", (2024)
- Merlyn Barrer, MMathSci, "Constructing initial data on past null infinity" (2023-2024)
- 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, Honours project, "Colliding non-linear gravitational and electromagnetic plane waves in plane symmetry" (2023)
- Lachlan Campion, Honours project, "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)
- Christopher J. Harvey-Hawes, PhD, "Strong gravitational lensing and its applications in cosmology" (2020-2025)
- Michael J. Williams, PhD, "Numerical simulations in relativistic cosmology" (2021-2025)
- Manon A. van Zyl, MSc, "Percolation theory and void statistics in cosmological numerical relativity simulations" (2024-2025)
- Saskia Cosgrove-Drayton, Honours project, "Malmquist biases and foundations of cosmology" (2025)
- Samuel Kelly, Honours project, "Cosmological foundations and the Malmquist biases and foundations" (2025)
- Tegan Gould, Honours project, "Rotating black holes in Kaluza-Klein theory" (2024)
- Finn C. O'Keeffe, MSc, "Differential expansion and ray tracing in Szekeres models" (2022-2023)
- Joseph Galinski, Honours project, "Painlevé-Gullstrand coordinate systems in familiar and unfamiliar spacetimes" (2023)
- Morag A. Hills, MSC, "Ray tracing and averaging in Szekeres cosmological models" (2021-2022)
- Zachary G. Lane, Honours project, "Testing signatures of inhomogeneity in cosmology with supernova" (2022)
Recent Publications
- Galoppo, M. & Torrieri, G. (2026) The need for a nonlocal expansion in general relativity, Annals of Physics 484, 170293 DOI: 10.1016/j.aop.2025.170293
- Brook, J., & Stevens, C. (2025). Penrose's singularity theorem and the Kerr space-time. Nuclear Physics B 1021, 117173. DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2025.117173
- Harvey-Hawes, C. & Galoppo, M. (2025). A novel test for MOND: Gravitational lensing by disk galaxies, Astrophysical Journal 994, 167 DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae11ad
- Camden, B., Stevens, C., & Forbes, J. (2025). Nonlinear scattering of plane gravitational and electromagnetic waves. Physical Review D, 111, 024032
- Williams, M. J., Macpherson, H. J., Wiltshire, D. L., & Stevens, C. (2025). First investigation of void statistics in numerical relativity simulations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 536, 2645-2660.
- Di Valentino, E., Said, J. L., Riess, A., Pollo, A., Poulin, V., Gómez-Valent, A., ... & Valls-Gabaud, D. (2025). The CosmoVerse White Paper: Addressing observational tensions in cosmology with systematics and fundamental physics. Physics of the Dark Universe, 49, 101965.
- Galoppo, M., Re, F., & Wiltshire, D. L. (2025). Quasilocal Newtonian limit of general relativity and galactic dynamics. Classical and Quantum Gravity.
- Seifert, A., Lane, Z. G., Galoppo, M., Ridden-Harper, R., & Wiltshire, D. L. (2025). Supernovae evidence for foundational change to cosmological models. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 537, L55-L60.
- Williams, M. J., Macpherson, H. J., Wiltshire, D. L., & Stevens, C. (2025). First investigation of void statistics in numerical relativity simulations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 536, 2645-2660.
- Lane, Z. G., Seifert, A., Ridden-Harper, R., & Wiltshire, D. L. (2025). Cosmological foundations revisited with Pantheon+. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 536, 1752-1777.
- Satherley, J. C., Gordon, C., & Stevens, C. (2025). Axion-photon conversion signals from neutron stars with spacetime curvature accounted for in the magnetosphere model. Physical Review D, 111, 063008.
- Galoppo, M., Gaur, R., & Harvey-Hawes, C. (2025). Kerr-Newman memory effect. Physical Review D, 111, 064041.
- Frauendiener, J., Goodenbour, A., & Stevens, C. (2024). The non-linear perturbation of a black hole by gravitational waves. III. Newman–Penrose constants. Classical and quantum gravity, 41, 065005.
Preprints
- Marco Galoppo, Pierre Mourier (2025) Cosmological perturbations on an averaged background https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.17160
- Zachary G. Lane, Ryan Ridden-Harper et al (2025) SN 2019vxm: A Shocking Coincidence between Fermi and TESS https://www.arxiv.org/abs/2511.15975
- Marco Galoppo, David L. Wiltshire (2025) Exact solutions for differentially rotating galaxies in general relativity https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.14157
- Jörg Frauendiener, Chris Stevens, and Sebenele Thwala (2025) Fully non-linear gravitational wave simulations from past to future null-infinity https://arXiv:2504.02188.
- 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 and Events
📌ACGRG13/CosPA2026:
International Symposium on Cosmology & Particle Astrophysics 2026 and 13th Australasian Conference on General Relativity & Gravitation, July (05-09) 2026, University of Canterbury
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"
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Stellar Kiwi’s crucial black hole theory turns 60
08 November 2023
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.)
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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.)
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Stellar Kiwi’s crucial black hole theory turns 60
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UC maths student awarded scholarship to study at Cambridge
15 June 2023
Jack Aimer is one of nine recipients nationwide to receive a competitive William Georgetti Scholarship from Universities New Zealand.
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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.
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UC maths student awarded scholarship to study at Cambridge
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From way back to the future: Space-time ripples study heralded
21 May 2025
A UC major breakthrough in gravitational physics has been recognised by a top international scientific journal.
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From way back to the future: Space-time ripples study heralded
A UC major breakthrough in gravitational physics has been recognised by a top international scientific journal.
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From way back to the future: Space-time ripples study heralded
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Dark energy doesn't exist, according to new NZ study
20 December 2024
One of the biggest mysteries in science doesn’t actually exist, according to Kiwi researchers looking to solve the riddle of how the universe is expanding.
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Dark energy doesn't exist, according to new NZ study
One of the biggest mysteries in science doesn’t actually exist, according to Kiwi researchers looking to solve the riddle of how the universe is expanding.
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Dark energy doesn't exist, according to new NZ study
