Contact
Andrew Miller
Position
Postdoc
Address
Centre for Cosmology, Particle Physics and Phenomenology - CP3
Université catholique de Louvain
2, Chemin du Cyclotron - Box L7.01.05
B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Belgium
Université catholique de Louvain
2, Chemin du Cyclotron - Box L7.01.05
B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Belgium
Office
UCL member card
Projects
Research directions:
Experiments and collaborations:
Active projects
Non-active projects
Experiments and collaborations:
Active projects
Virgo - data analysis - direct search for ultra-light dark matter with gw detectors
Giacomo Bruno, Andrew Miller
We know that a lot of matter we cannot see affects the motion of the stars around the center of the galaxy. This matter is present on earth, and in theory can interact directly with the mirrors in LIGO-Virgo in a specific way depending on the mass of the constituent particles. Since the dark matter is always present, the signal is at a fixed frequency that impinges on the detector. We are developing methods that search for this unique signature of dark matter.
We know that a lot of matter we cannot see affects the motion of the stars around the center of the galaxy. This matter is present on earth, and in theory can interact directly with the mirrors in LIGO-Virgo in a specific way depending on the mass of the constituent particles. Since the dark matter is always present, the signal is at a fixed frequency that impinges on the detector. We are developing methods that search for this unique signature of dark matter.
Virgo - data analysis - searches for inspiralling primordial black holes
Giacomo Bruno, Federico De Lillo, Andrew Miller
The detection of gravitational waves from the merger of heavy binary black hole and neutron star systems has driven the worldwide interest in gravitational wave physics. However, we have only seen the last second or less of these systems’ lives. If the black holes were less massive, we could actually have seen them as they were slowly moving towards each other. Lighter black holes imply different physics and formation mechanisms for them in the universe, hence a detection of these so-called primordial black holes would be a major breakthrough in physics.
External collaborators: Sebastien Clesse (ULB).
The detection of gravitational waves from the merger of heavy binary black hole and neutron star systems has driven the worldwide interest in gravitational wave physics. However, we have only seen the last second or less of these systems’ lives. If the black holes were less massive, we could actually have seen them as they were slowly moving towards each other. Lighter black holes imply different physics and formation mechanisms for them in the universe, hence a detection of these so-called primordial black holes would be a major breakthrough in physics.
External collaborators: Sebastien Clesse (ULB).
Virgo - data analysis - ultra-light dark matter around black holes
Giacomo Bruno, Antoine Depasse, Andrew Miller
If ultralight dark matter exists and is composed of bosons, dark matter clouds can form around black holes after their birth and grow exponentially in size by extracting energy and spin from the black holes. Once the cloud has fully formed, the bosons will couple to each other and annihilate, emitting almost monochromatic (fixed energy) gravitational waves for extremely long periods of time. The boson can be treated as a scalar, vector or tensor field, which all imply different timescales for growth and deletion, and gravitational wave signal strength. Additionally, the implications of a detection of differ for each of these fields.
If ultralight dark matter exists and is composed of bosons, dark matter clouds can form around black holes after their birth and grow exponentially in size by extracting energy and spin from the black holes. Once the cloud has fully formed, the bosons will couple to each other and annihilate, emitting almost monochromatic (fixed energy) gravitational waves for extremely long periods of time. The boson can be treated as a scalar, vector or tensor field, which all imply different timescales for growth and deletion, and gravitational wave signal strength. Additionally, the implications of a detection of differ for each of these fields.
Non-active projects
Publications in CP3
All my publications on Inspire
Number of publications as CP3 member: 21 Download BibTeX
Last 5 publications
More publications
Number of publications as CP3 member: 21 Download BibTeX
Last 5 publications
2021
More publications