Dr Gustav Mogull

Gustav Mogull

Royal Society University Research Fellow

School of Physical and Chemical Sciences
Queen Mary University of London
www.qmul.ac.uk/spcs/staff/academics/profiles/gmogull.html
Centre for Fundamental Physics
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Research

Quantum field theory, Scattering amplitudes, Gravitational waves

Interests

Gravitational waves produced by binary black hole and neutron star encounters are now routinely detected by the LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA detectors. This has driven interest in better theoretical approaches for modelling the gravitational two-body problem. There is now a broad ongoing effort to apply techniques used for calculating scattering amplitudes in Quantum Field Theory (QFT) to obtaining gravitational two-body scattering observables. Unlike more conventional post-Newtonian approaches, which assume weak fields and slow-moving bodies, amplitudes-based methods rely only on a weak-field expansion.

Having worked on QFT-based scattering amplitudes for several years, I am now applying my experience to this highly active field. The Worldline Quantum Field Theory (WQFT) formalism, which I co-developed in Berlin, is specifically designed for performing QFT-based scattering calculations designed to target classical gravitational observables. I am currently using it to produce high-precision scattering observables including spin, radiation and tidal effects. These can be incorporated into effective-one-body (EOB) gravitational waveform models, and will ultimately be used to achieve improved waveform modelling for future generations of gravitational wave detectors.