Fundamental Fields, Black Holes and Perturbation Theory

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The research area is fundamental fields on curved spacetimes, with a particular emphasis on practical calculations of metric perturbations associated with compact bodies moving on the Kerr spacetime, and gravitational self-force calculations. The chief scientific motivation is to improve the modelling of gravitational waves from Extreme Mass-Ratio Inspirals for future space-based gravitational wave detectors; and if possible, to improve modelling of Intermediate Mass-Ratio Inspirals for ground-based detectors. Other possible topics for investigation include: superradiant instabilities of rotating black holes; the separability (or otherwise) of massive spin-two field equations on Kerr; and theoretical modelling for experiments in analogue gravity.The projects are in the domain of theoretical and mathematical physics. The research will involve the use of standard computing software, such as Mathematica, and pen-and-paper calculations. No experiments will be performed, and it is unlikely that this project will lead to any intellectual property or new technologies within the next decade.