Poul Henrik Damgaard receives grant from Independent Research Fund Denmark

NBIA Director Poul Henrik Damgaard has received a grant from Independent Research Fund Denmark to pursue a new avenue towards the computation of gravitational wave signals on the basis of general relativity. The project, which is called 'Scattering Amplitudes and Gravity', explores a new-found path to solving the two-body scattering problem of two massive and highly compact objects such as black holes or neutron stars.

Building on new techniques for the computation of scattering amplitudes in quantum field theory, this new approach treats gravity as described by general relativity on par with the other known fundamental forces.

Surprisingly, it is more efficient to treat classical general relativity in this quantum mechanical language with a subsequent truncation to just the classical terms of the theory.

 The grant will allow the hire of a post-doctoral fellow and an active visitor program in this field.