Our research topics
The target of our research is to solve the very fundamental open questions in the evolution of our Universe, namely the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy (or possible modifications of general relativity). To address this tremendous challenge, however, we do not only use cosmological tools and astrophysical data, but also a new, unprecedented window into the Universe: gravitational waves.
Exploring dark matter with gravitational waves means performing cutting-edge research at the interface of astrophysics, cosmology, particle physics and gravitational wave physics. We explore dark matter with both cosmological and astrophysical sources of gravitational waves. The goal of our research is to cover the whole frequency spectrum of gravitational wave sources to explore the unknown particle nature of dark matter.
We explore, for example, first-order cosmological phase transitions in models with dark matter candidates as cosmological sources of gravitational waves. First-order phase transitions in the early universe generally require physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, and thus can naturally include dark matter candidates. Gravitational waves from cosmological phase transitions will be detectable with the Laser Interferometer Antenna (LISA).
On the other hand, we explore the impact of dark matter on astrophysical sources of gravitational waves. This includes, for example, dark matter halos around merging supermassive black holes, dark matter spikes in intermediate mass ratio inspirals, neutron stars with dark matter cores and halos, or dark matter effects on oscillation modes of rotating neutron stars (e.g., \(r\)-mode oscillations). These are sources either in the frequency range of pulsar timing arrays, such as the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav), the space-based LISA detector, or ground-based gravitational wave detectors, such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).
\(\rightarrow \) List of all publications of the DMGW group
\(\rightarrow \) List of all completed thesis (Bachelor, Master, Doctoral) within the DMGW group
