Leonardo Gualtieri

I am a member of the Physics Department of Pisa University, where I am Full Professor in Theoretical Physics. My research field is gravitational theory, an extremely diversified subject which involves the physics of fundamental interactions, astrophysics, nuclear physics. This field has been deeply transformed by the direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015, which opened the way to the study of gravity in the strong-field regime. Strong-field gravity can be the key to address several problems and issues of fundamental physics, from the nature of the gravitational interaction to the elusive equation of state of neutron stars, to the existence of new fundamental fields as dark matter candidates. To this aim, we study strong-gravity processes involving black holes and neutron stars. The gravitational wave signals emitted by these processes are currently detected by the LIGO and Virgo interferometers, and will be observed, with much higher sensitivities, by the next generation of detectors like the Einstein Telescope and the ESA-led space mission LISA.