Gravitational wave detectors are now spotting dozens of cosmic collisions each year, and the University of Portsmouth team plans to find hundreds more by sharpening the search. Why this matters: Current detectors can miss mergers or misinterpret signals because of glitches and noise in the data. The team will develop software to clean up those glitches and correct for subtle biases that could distort what we think we know about black holes and neutron stars. They will also modernise the "dark siren" method—a technique that uses gravitational waves alone to measure how fast the universe is expanding—and extend it to test theories of dark energy and gravity. Potential impact: This is fundamental science. It will not change everyday life directly. But cleaner data and better cosmological measurements will tell us how the universe grew, what dark energy really is, and whether Einstein’s theory holds under extreme conditions. Past fundamental work on gravitational waves has already opened an entirely new way to observe the cosmos; this project ensures the UK stays at the centre of that revolution.
View original technical description
Gravitational wave science has transformed over the past decade, from the first handful of detections to an entire landscape of astrophysics. The study of compact object populations, detailed modelling of waveforms, cosmology & tests of fundamental physics, and multimessenger science – all of these are now emerging fields in their own right. Furthermore, with improvements to our understanding of the data and blueprints for next-generation facilities in hand, we can look forward to continuing rapid growth, both in the number of detected gravitational wave events, and the scientific questions they enable us to answer. The gravitational wave group at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, has likewise grown significantly since its inception in 2018. Our research interests span the entire spectrum of current gravitational wave science, from detector science right through to final scientific interpretation products. This uniquely places us to work on almost any question in the field. We have a cumulative total of over 50 years service within the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Scientific Collaboration: we hold positions of leadership and responsibility within the collaboration; we are major developers of key software tools that power collaboration results; and we have played significant roles in detection and publication of some of the most impactful gravitational wave events to date. Combined with the inclusive and collaborative nature of our group, this makes us an attractive and supportive environment for hosting and developing early-career researchers. In this proposal we lay out our scientific plans for 2025 - 2028, shaped around three major pillars in gravitational wave search pipelines, detector characterisation and gravitational wave cosmology. In the first theme, we develop a plan of work to observe hundreds of new compact binary mergers, including in hitherto unexplored areas of parameter space. In our second theme, we propose to understand and correct for non-Gaussian and non-stationary effects in detector data which, if left unchecked, has the potential to bias the scientific interpretation of our observations. Our third theme lays out a program of work to modernise the dark siren method, adapting it for cosmology beyond the O4 era, and extending its remit to new tests of dark energy and gravity. These three themes build upon one another through a shared understanding of how systematics and subtleties in the ‘upstream’ science can propagate through to ‘downstream’ measurements. The breadth of our team enables us to share knowledge and tools across these topics, ensuring robust, optimised scientific results. The body of work here aims at maximising returns from the O4b observing run and preparing for new science during the O5 observing run, due to commence mid-2027. In this way we will ensure the UK retains its world-leading reputation of excellence in the analysis and interpretation of LVK data. The expertise we develop in our team will in turn propagate into the broader UK community through the skills of our young researchers, and our engagement with the public at large.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know