ICTS

Education and Employment:

• Ph.D (2007): Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute).
• Postdoctoral Scholar (2007-2008): Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute).
• Postdoctoral Scholar (2009-2013): California Institute of Technology.

Research Interests:

The existence of gravitational waves -- freely propagating oscillations in the fabric of spacetime -- is an intriguing prediction of Einstein’s century old theory of general relativity. Culminating a worldwide effort that lasted over three decades, an international collaboration of scientists recently announced the first direct detection of gravitational waves.  This detection by the Advanced LIGO observatories not only confirms a major prediction of Einstein’s theory but also opens up a fundamentally new observational window onto the Universe and a unique laboratory to test our understanding of many different aspects of modern physics and astrophysics.

My research spans different aspects of gravitational-wave astronomy: modeling of gravitational-wave sources by combining analytical and numerical relativity, gravitational-wave data analysis, interpretation of gravitational-wave observations, tests of general relativity using gravitational wave observations, and astrophysics. I have been a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration since 2004. Along with my colleagues at the ICTS Astrophysical Relativity Group, I have directly contributed to deciphering the recent LIGO discovery of gravitational waves.

Selected Publications:

• Constraints on the time variation of the gravitational constant using gravitational wave observations of binary neutron stars, A. Vijaykumar, S. J. Kapadia, P. Ajith, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 141104 (2021).
• Search for gravitational lensing signatures in LIGO-Virgo binary black hole events, O.A. Hannuksela, K. Haris, K.K.Y. Ng, S. Kumar, A.K. Mehta, D. Keitel, T.G.F. Li, P. Ajith, Astrophys. J. Lett. 874 L2, 10 (2019).
• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger, LIGO Scientific and Virgo Collaborations, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 061102, 2016
• Tests of general relativity with GW150914, LIGO Scientific and Virgo Collaborations, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 221101, 2016
• Testing general relativity using golden black-hole binaries, Ab. Ghosh, Ar. Ghosh, N. K. Johnson-McDaniel, C. K. Mishra, P. Ajith, W. Del Pozzo, D. A. Nichols, Y. Chen, A. B. Nielsen, C. P. L. Berry, L. London, Phys Rev D 94, 021101(R), 2016
• An effectual template bank for the detection of gravitational waves from inspiralling compact binaries with generic spins, P. Ajith, N. Fotopoulos, S. Privitera, A. Neunzert, N. Mazumder, A. J. Weinstein, Phys. Rev. D 89, 084041 (2014).
• Addressing the spin question in gravitational-wave searches: Waveform templates for inspiraling compact binaries with non-precessing spins, P. Ajith, Phys. Rev. D 84 084037, 2011.
• Inspiral-merger-ringdown gravitational-waveforms for black-hole binaries with non-precessing spins, P. Ajith, M. Hannam, S. Husa, Y. Chen, B.Bruegmann, N. Dorband, D. Mueller, F. Ohme, D. Pollney, C. Reisswig, L. Santamaria, and J. Seiler, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 241101 (2011).

Links:

• Astrophysical Relativity Group web page.
• Personal home page.