Thesis

Testing modified gravity with black holes

• Call:

  PT-CERN call 2020/1

• Academic Year:

  2020/2021

• Domain:

  Astroparticle Physics

• Supervisor:

  Jorge Rocha

• Co-Supervisor:

  Daniele Vernieri

• Institution:

  Universidade de Lisboa

• Host Institution:

  CENTRA - Center for astrophysics and gravitation

• Abstract:

  Extensions of General Relativity (GR) appear to be inescapable in order to consistently combine gravitational and quantum physics, and to explain the observed cosmological evolution. Black Holes (BHs), where gravity is strongest, are an ideal testbed to scrutinize such theories. Modifications of GR leave imprints, essential to be quantified, in gravitational wave signals. In this respect, only few alternative theories of gravity have been considered so far. My research plan is focused on the study of some theoretical aspects of BHs Physics in modified theories of gravitation, such as Horndeski theory, Hořava gravity and Einsteinian cubic gravity. In the framework of these well-motivated and viable theories, on one hand I will consider the fusion of BHs, in order to obtain some analytical results about the geometry of the event horizon and its time dependence. On the other hand, I will evaluate BHs tidal deformabilities computing their tidal Love numbers.