@GravityCardiff

A research group in the School of Physics and Astronomy at Cardiff University, focused on detecting gravitational waves and understanding their sources.

 Cardiff, Wales
cardiff.ac.uk/physics-astronomy/research/research-groups/gravity-exploration-institute
Joined May 2024
  • Tweets30
  • Following54
  • Followers66
16Media
Prof Stephen Fairhurst of the GEI in Cardiff is the new spokesperson for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration! He is the first person from a non-US institution to hold this position. We are very pleased and proud that his many years of work within the LSC have been recognised.
LIGO@LIGO20 May 2025
We are pleased to introduce our new spokesperson, Prof. Stephen Fairhurst of @GravityCardiff! "I look forward to working with the excellent scientists and engineers in the collaboration" ligo.org/lsc-welcomes-new-sp…
Steve looking happy on an uncharacteristically sunny day in the UK.

ALT Steve looking happy on an uncharacteristically sunny day in the UK.

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We are now on Bluesky. Follow us there for more updates on our activities! bsky.app/profile/gravitycard…
Screenshot of the Gravity Exploration Institute's page on Bluesky.

ALT Screenshot of the Gravity Exploration Institute's page on Bluesky.

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Gravity Exploration Institute retweeted
LIGO Hanford@LIGOWA11 Sep 2024
Did You Catch The #DoubleRainbow? 🌈 #Rainbow sighting this morning @LIGOWA w/ a little #rain! 🌈 Also "end" of the rainbow "landing" at the @LIGO Y-Mid Building (or MY, which is 2km down the 4km [2.5mile] Y-Arm). 🌈 #optics #refraction #LIGOWA #GravitationalWaves #Light #morning
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Gravity Exploration Institute retweeted
Cardiff University@cardiffuni13 Sep 2024
Scientists have developed a new way of searching for elusive #DarkMatter, which makes up 85% of all matter in the Universe, using detectors that are meant to observe gravitational waves. ➡️ buff.ly/3MJzGYL 📷 Matt Heintze | @Caltech | @MIT | @LIGO
A scientist installing the 40kg mirrors into the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

ALT A scientist installing the 40kg mirrors into the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

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A paper by several current and former members of the GEI, now published in Physical Review Letters, sets new limits on a wave-like form of dark matter called scalar field dark matter. journals.aps.org/prl/abstrac…
First page of the paper "Searching for Scalar Field Dark Matter with LIGO", available at the link shared in this post.

ALT First page of the paper "Searching for Scalar Field Dark Matter with LIGO", available at the link shared in this post.

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Not finding viable candidates, they set new upper limits that surpass existing bounds for the coupling of scalar field dark matter to the standard model by up to 4 orders of magnitude in a frequency band from 10 to 180 Hz, and are competitive up to 5000 Hz.
Figure 3 from the paper, showing the new limits on the coupling constants.

ALT Figure 3 from the paper, showing the new limits on the coupling constants.

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We can expect these results to be improved greatly in future LIGO runs and with future gravitational wave detectors. The results could also be improved drastically by modifying the thicknesses of the detector's beamsplitter and test masses, for which this study paves the way.
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We'll be sharing updates throughout the day over on our Instagram stories. Follow us there! (Account: gravitycardiff )
Gravity Exploration Institute@GravityCardiff19 Jul 2024
Today we are celebrating 50 years of gravity at Cardiff. Many GEI alumni are here. We have a full day of talks.
A photo from the back of a lecture hall with a lot of GEI alumni sitting on the chairs. Bernard Schutz is standing the the front, introducing the first speaker.

ALT A photo from the back of a lecture hall with a lot of GEI alumni sitting on the chairs. Bernard Schutz is standing the the front, introducing the first speaker.

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Today we are celebrating 50 years of gravity at Cardiff. Many GEI alumni are here. We have a full day of talks.
A photo from the back of a lecture hall with a lot of GEI alumni sitting on the chairs. Bernard Schutz is standing the the front, introducing the first speaker.

ALT A photo from the back of a lecture hall with a lot of GEI alumni sitting on the chairs. Bernard Schutz is standing the the front, introducing the first speaker.

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This year, the Gravity Exploration Institute is celebrating 50 years of gravity research in Cardiff 🥳 On Friday, July 19th, we'll be celebrating our anniversary with a one day conference at @cardiffPHYSX
Our event logo: the number 50 in red on a white background. The number 0 is a Welsh dragon wrapped around a black hole. There is also a black hole in the number 5, making this a binary system. Credit: Jordan Barber, GEI PhD student.

ALT Our event logo: the number 50 in red on a white background. The number 0 is a Welsh dragon wrapped around a black hole. There is also a black hole in the number 5, making this a binary system. Credit: Jordan Barber, GEI PhD student.

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More information about the event here: 50years.gravity.cf.ac.uk Follow us on our Instagram account (you can find us as GravityCardiff there) for highlights on the day.
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GEI postdoc, Dr. Debatri Chattopadhyay, at the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.
Dr. Debatri Chattopadhyay@c_debatri14 Jul 2024
Amazing week at the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings @lindaunobel, thanks for the opportunity to co-host the opening ceremony, for the most wonderful experience and the amazing global network. Thanks, @cardiffuni and @royalsociety for the selection!
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We currently have three student visitors from US Universities, who will be spending the summer with us at @gravitycardiff in @cardiffPHYSX . They gave brief presentations at our latest group meeting, about themselves and their summer projects.
Alex Wells at the front of the room talking about her project.

ALT Alex Wells at the front of the room talking about her project.

Steph Montoya at the front of the room, talking about her project.

ALT Steph Montoya at the front of the room, talking about her project.

Jasmine Palmer at the front of the room, talking about her project.

ALT Jasmine Palmer at the front of the room, talking about her project.

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Photo 1: Alexandra Wells, from Ohio University. Photo 2: Stephanie Montoya, from Montclair State University. Photo 3: Jasmine Palma, from Harvard University.
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Alexandra and Stephanie were able to visit us through the NSF Gravitational Physics International REU (research experiences for undergraduates) hosted by the University of Florida. Jasmine came through our Gravity Exploration Institute's summer internship.
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Members of the Gravity Exploration Institute participated in the Gravitational Wave Physics and Astronomy Workshop (GWPAW) in Birmingham last week. Here's a thread of some highlights...
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We also heard from several former members and regular visitors of our group, including Dr. Vaibhav Tiwari, Dr. Isobel Romero-Shaw, Dr. Penny Kolitsidou, and Dr. Jade Powell.
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The conference ended with a panel on "The future of Gravitational Wave detectors", led by Prof. Stephen Fairhurst and including Dr. Keiko Kokeyama.
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