Accretion, Structure and Evolution in Gravitating Systems

Black holes and dead stars pull in surrounding gas and dust, releasing more energy than any other known process in the universe. This research programme will model how gravity drives that accretion, and how it shapes everything from binary star systems to colliding galaxies. A major gap remains in understanding dark matter, which makes up roughly 90 percent of the Milky Way’s mass but has never been directly detected. The team will also simulate how our Galaxy formed and evolved over the past 10 billion years. This is fundamental science, not applied research. There is no immediate practical application for better models of black hole accretion or galactic structure. But the same kind of theoretical astrophysics has previously led to unexpected breakthroughs—for example, the mathematics behind general relativity now underpins GPS satellite corrections, and plasma physics developed for star formation models is used in fusion energy research. A deeper understanding of how gravity organises matter across cosmic scales could, in time, feed into technologies that rely on extreme precision in timing, navigation, or energy systems.