Speaker: Nico Sanchis-Gual (CENTRA)
Title: Numerical relativity, compact objects, and fundamental fields
Abstract: The recent detections of gravitational waves are opening a new window to the Universe. The nature of black holes and neutron stars may now be unveiled, but gravitational radiation may also lead to exciting discoveries of new exotic compact objects, oblivious to electromagnetic waves. During my PhD, I have investigated three main topics involving fundamental scalar and vector bosonic fields coupled to gravity within general relativity and under the assumption of spherical symmetry: (i) quasistationary configurations of real scalar fields around Schwarzschild black holes as scalar field dark matter models, (ii) the superradiant instability and the formation of charged hairy black holes, and (iii) bosonic stars. These systems could have important astrophysical relevance, if ultralight bosonic fields exist in nature.