Working Thesis Title
Scattering of Gravitational Waves.
Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time that propagate at the speed of light. Proposed in 1916, they were directly detected only recently by the LIGO/VIRGO collaborations. These waves are produced by extremely compact objects such as neutron stars or black holes, or by processes in the early universe such as inflation. They contain information that is complementary to electromagnetic waves that can, for example, tell us the individual masses and spins making up a binary black hole system. Hence, they unveil the universe in a new and completely different way, comparable to being blind one’s whole life, relying solely on hearing, and suddenly being able to see. Unlike electromagnetic radiation, gravitational waves are governed by non-linear equations, namely the Einstein equations, and hence self-interact. If sunlight had this property, it would not need raindrops to make a rainbow. To properly decode the information contained in the gravitational waves detected on earth, a rigorous understanding of their self-interaction properties is therefore necessary. There are also many other questions of fundamental physics that can be investigated by understanding these properties. Are there undiscovered effects in strong gravitational fields? Are there non-linear effects that are still unknown? What is the threshold at which gravitational waves to collapse to a black hole? Do electromagnetic waves affect gravitational waves’ self-interaction? In my project we aim to set the foundation for and solving some of these questions by numerically studying the scattering of gravitational waves.
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Supervisors
Chris Stevens; Joerg Frauendiener (Otago)
Research Interests
General Relativity, Numerical Relativity, PDEs.
Academic History
- 2020-2022 Master of Machine Intelligence, African Institute for Mathematical Science
- 2018-2019 Master of Mathematical Sciences, University of the Western Cape
- 2014-2018 Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Physics, first class, University of Eswatini
Professional History
2020 Part-Time Lecturer and Lab Tech , University of Eswatini
