Mark Hannam

School of Physics and Astronomy

: hannammd@cardiff.ac.uk
: +44 (0)29 2087 0167

: Media commentator

I study black holes and gravitational waves, and I work on producing theoretical models of gravitational waves from collisions of black holes.

I was very happy when the first ever gravitational waves that were directly measured by LIGO turned out to be from black holes colliding, and the models that I've worked on (with people in Cardiff and around the world) were used to interpret the results.

I studied at Waikato and Canterbury Universities in New Zealand, and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in the USA. During my PhD I numerically solved the equations necessary to provide the initial conditions for simulations of collisions of black holes.

After I completed my PhD in 2003, I embarked on a research world tour, stopping at the University of Texas at Brownsville; the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, Germany; University College Cork, Ireland; and the University of Vienna, Austria. In 2010 I came to Cardiff as an STFC Advanced Fellow, and became a professor in 2015. In 2015 I was also awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant to study precessing binary black holes.

Professional memberships

Institute of Physics

2017

Abbott, B. et al. 2017. First narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in advanced detector data. Physical Review D 96(12), pp. -., article number: 122006. (10.1103/PhysRevD.96.122006)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2017. GW170608: Observation of a 19 solar-mass binary black hole coalescence. Astrophysical Journal Letters 851, article number: L35. (10.3847/2041-8213/aa9f0c)
Abbott, B. et al. 2017. Search for post-merger Gravitational Waves from the remnant of the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817. Astrophysical Journal Letters 851(1), article number: L16. (10.3847/2041-8213/aa9a35)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2017. Estimating the contribution of dynamical ejecta in the kilonova associated with GW170817. Astrophysical Journal Letters 850(2), article number: L39. (10.3847/2041-8213/aa9478)
Puerrer, M., Smith, R., Field, S., Canizares, P., Raymond, V., Gair, J. and Hannam, M. 2017. Accelerating parameter estimation of gravitational waves from black hole binaries with reduced order quadratures. Presented at: 14th Marcel Grossman Meeting On Recent Developments in Theoretical and Experimental General Relativity, 12 -18 July 2015 Presented at Bianchi, M., Jantzen, R. T. and Ruffini, R. eds.14th Marcel Grossman Meeting On Recent Developments in Theoretical and Experimental General Relativity, Astrophysics and Relativistic Field Theories: Proceedings of the MG14 Meeting on General Relativity. World Scientific Publishing pp. 2015-2018., (10.1142/9789813226609_0218)
Puerrer, M., Hannam, M. and Ohme, F. 2017. Can we measure individual black-hole spins from gravitational-wave observations?. Presented at: 14th Marcel Grossman Meeting On Recent Developments in Theoretical and Experimental General Relativity, 12 -18 July 2015 Presented at Bianchi, M., Jantzen, R. T. and Ruffini, R. eds.14th Marcel Grossman Meeting On Recent Developments in Theoretical and Experimental General Relativity, Astrophysics and Relativistic Field Theories: Proceedings of the MG14 Meeting on General Relativity. World Scientific Publishing pp. 3144-3148., (10.1142/9789813226609_0399)
Dorrington, I. et al. 2017. Search for high-energy neutrinos from binary neutron star merger GW170817 with ANTARES, IceCube, and the Pierre Auger Observatory. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 850(2), article number: L35. (10.3847/2041-8213/aa9aed)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2017. A gravitational-wave standard siren measurement of the Hubble constant. Nature 551, pp. 85-88. (10.1038/nature24471)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2017. Gravitational waves and gamma-rays from a binary neutron star merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A. Astrophysical Journal Letters 848(2), article number: L13. (10.3847/2041-8213/aa920c)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2017. Multi-messenger observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger. Astrophysical Journal Letters 848(2), article number: L12. (10.3847/2041-8213/aa91c9)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2017. GW170817: Observation of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star inspiral. Physical Review Letters 119(16), article number: 161101. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.161101)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2017. GW170814: A three-detector observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole coalescence. Physical Review Letters 119(14), article number: 141101. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.141101)
Keitel, D. et al. 2017. The most powerful astrophysical events: Gravitational-wave peak luminosity of binary black holes as predicted by numerical relativity. Physical Review D 96(2), pp. -., article number: 24006. (10.1103/PhysRevD.96.024006)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2017. GW170104: Observation of a 50-solar-mass binary black hole coalescence at redshift 0.2. Physical Review Letters 118(22), article number: 221101. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.221101)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2017. Effects of waveform model systematics on the interpretation of GW150914. Classical and Quantum Gravity 34(10), pp. -., article number: 104002. (10.1088/1361-6382/aa6854)
Abbott, B. et al. 2017. Calibration of the advanced LIGO detectors for the discovery of the binary black-hole merger GW150914. Physical Review D 95, article number: 62003. (10.1103/PhysRevD.95.062003)
Abbott, B. et al. 2017. Upper limits on the stochastic gravitational-wave background from advanced LIGO's first observing run. Physical Review Letters 118(12) (10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.121101)
Abbott, B. et al. 2017. Directional limits on persistent gravitational waves from advanced LIGO's first observing run. Physical Review Letters 118, pp. -., article number: 121102. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.121102)
Jiménez-Forteza, X., Keitel, D., Husa, S., Hannam, M., Khan, S. and Pürrer, M. 2017. Hierarchical data-driven approach to fitting numerical relativity data for nonprecessing binary black holes with an application to final spin and radiated energy. Physical Review D 95(6), pp. -., article number: 64024. (10.1103/PhysRevD.95.064024)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2017. Exploring the sensitivity of next generation gravitational wave detectors. Classical and Quantum Gravity 34(4), article number: 44001. (10.1088/1361-6382/aa51f4)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2017. The basic physics of the binary black hole merger GW150914. Annelen der Physik 529(1-2), article number: 1600209. (10.1002/andp.201600209)

2016

Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. Binary black hole mergers in the first advanced LIGO observing run. Physical Review X 6(4), article number: 41015. (10.1103/PhysRevX.6.041015)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. Prospects for observing and localizing gravitational-wave transients with Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. Living Reviews in Relativity 19, article number: 1. (10.1007/lrr-2016-1)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. Improved analysis of GW150914 using a fully spin-precessing waveform model. Physical Review X 6(4), pp. -., article number: 41014. (10.1103/PhysRevX.6.041014)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. Upper limits on the rates of binary neutron star and neutron star-black hole mergers from advanced Ligo's first observing run. Astrophysical Journal Letters 832(2), pp. -., article number: L21. (10.3847/2041-8205/832/2/L21)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. First targeted search for gravitational-wave bursts from core-collapse supernovae in data of first-generation laser interferometer detectors. Physical Review D 94(10), pp. -., article number: 102001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.94.102001)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. Comprehensive all-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in the sixth science run LIGO data. Physical Review D 94(4), pp. -., article number: 42002. (10.1103/PhysRevD.94.042002)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. Localization and broadband follow-up of the gravitational-wave transient GW150914. Astrophysical Journal Letters 826(1), pp. -., article number: L13. (10.3847/2041-8205/826/1/L13)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. Supplement: 'Localization and broadband follow-up of the gravitational-wave transient GW150914' (2016, ApJL, 826, l13). Astrophysical Journal Supplement 225(1), pp. 1-15. (10.3847/0067-0049/225/1/8)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. Properties of the binary black hole merger GW150914. Physical Review Letters 116(24), article number: 241102. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.241102)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. GW151226: Observation of gravitational waves from a 22-solar-mass binary black hole coalescence. Physical Review Letters 116(24), article number: 241103. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.241103)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. GW150914: First results from the search for binary black hole coalescence with Advanced LIGO. Physical Review D 93(12), article number: 122003. (10.1103/PhysRevD.93.122003)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. Observing gravitational-wave transient GW150914 with minimal assumptions. Physical Review D 93(12), article number: 122004. (10.1103/PhysRevD.93.122004)
Adrián-Martínez, S. et al. 2016. High-energy neutrino follow-up search of gravitational wave event GW150914 with ANTARES and IceCube. Physical Review D 93(12), article number: 122010. (10.1103/PhysRevD.93.122010)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. Search for transient gravitational waves in coincidence with short-duration radio transients during 2007-2013. Physical Review D 93(12), pp. -., article number: 122008. (10.1103/PhysRevD.93.122008)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. Characterization of transient noise in Advanced LIGO relevant to gravitational wave signal GW150914. Classical and Quantum Gravity 33(13), article number: 134001. (10.1088/0264-9381/33/13/134001)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. Tests of general relativity with GW150914. Physical Review Letters 116(22), article number: 221101. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.221101)
Pürrer, M., Hannam, M. and Ohme, F. 2016. Can we measure individual black-hole spins from gravitational-wave observations?. Physical Review D 93(8), article number: 84042. (10.1103/PhysRevD.93.084042)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. GW150914: implications for the stochastic gravitational wave background from binary black holes. Physical Review Letters 116, article number: 131102. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.131102)
Adams, T. et al. 2016. Search of the Orion spur for continuous gravitational waves using a loosely coherent algorithm on data from LIGO interferometers. Physical Review d Particles and Fields 93(4), article number: 42006. (10.1103/PhysRevD.93.042006)
Khan, S., Husa, S., Hannam, M., Ohme, F., Purrer, M., Jiménez Forteza, X. and Bohé, A. 2016. Frequency-domain gravitational waves from nonprecessing black-hole binaries. II. A phenomenological model for the advanced detector era. Physical Review D 93(4), article number: 44007. (10.1103/PhysRevD.93.044007)
Husa, S., Khan, S., Hannam, M., Puerrer, M., Ohme, F., Forteza, X. J. and Bohé, A. 2016. Frequency-domain gravitational waves from nonprecessing black-hole binaries. I. New numerical waveforms and anatomy of the signal. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 93(4), article number: 44006. (10.1103/PhysRevD.93.044006)
Coughlin, S. B. et al. 2016. All-sky search for long-duration gravitational wave transients with initial LIGO. Physical Review D. 93(4), article number: 42005. (10.1103/PhysRevD.93.042005)
Aasi, J. et al. 2016. First low frequency all-sky search for continuous gravitational wave signals. Physical Review D 93(4), article number: 42007. (10.1103/PhysRevD.93.042007)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2016. Observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger. Physical Review Letters 116(6), article number: 61102. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102)

2015

Adams, T. et al. 2015. Searches for continuous gravitational waves from nine young supernova remnants. The Astrophysical Journal 813(1), article number: 39. (10.1088/0004-637X/813/1/39)
Adams, T. et al. 2015. Directed search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 with initial LIGO data. Physical Review d Particles and Fields 91(6), article number: 62008. (10.1103/PhysRevD.91.062008)
Aasi, J. et al. 2015. Advanced LIGO. Classical and Quantum Gravity 32(7), article number: 74001. (10.1088/0264-9381/32/7/074001)
Aasi, J. et al. 2015. Narrow-band search of continuous gravitational-wave signals from Crab and Vela pulsars in Virgo VSR4 data. Physical Review D 91, article number: 22004. (10.1103/PhysRevD.91.022004)
Schmidt, P., Ohme, F. and Hannam, M. 2015. Towards models of gravitational waveforms from generic binaries: II. Modelling precession effects with a single effective precession parameter. Physical Review D 91(2), article number: 24043. (10.1103/PhysRevD.91.024043)

2014

Hannam, M. et al. 2014. Simple model of complete precessing black-hole-binary gravitational waveforms. Physical Review Letters 113(15), article number: 151101. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.151101)
Hannam, M. 2014. Modelling gravitational waves from precessing black-hole binaries: progress, challenges and prospects. General Relativity and Gravitation 46(9), article number: 1767. (10.1007/s10714-014-1767-2)
Aasi, J. et al. 2014. Search for gravitational waves associated with gamma-ray bursts detected by the interplanetary network. Physical Review Letters 113(1), article number: 11102. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.011102)
Aasi, J. et al. 2014. Methods and results of a search for gravitational waves associated with gamma-ray bursts using the GEO 600, LIGO, and Virgo detectors. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 89, pp. -., article number: 122004. (10.1103/PhysRevD.89.122004)
Aasi, J. et al. 2014. The NINJA-2 project: detecting and characterizing gravitational waveforms modelled using numerical binary black hole simulations. Classical and Quantum Gravity 31(11), article number: 115004. (10.1088/0264-9381/31/11/115004)
Varma, V., Ajith, P., Husa, S., Bustillo, J. C., Hannam, M. and Puerrer, M. 2014. Gravitational-wave observations of binary black holes: Effect of nonquadrupole modes. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 90(12), pp. -., article number: 124004. (10.1103/PhysRevD.90.124004)

2013

Hinder, I. et al. 2013. Error-analysis and comparison to analytical models of numerical waveforms produced by the NRAR Collaboration. Classical and Quantum Gravity 31(2), pp. -., article number: 25012. (10.1088/0264-9381/31/2/025012)
Pürrer, M., Hannam, M., Ajith, P. and Husa, S. 2013. Testing the validity of the single-spin approximation in inspiral-merger-ringdown waveforms. Physical Review D: Particles, Fields, Gravitation, and Cosmology 88(6), article number: 64007. (10.1103/PhysRevD.88.064007)
Baird, E., Fairhurst, S., Hannam, M. and Murphy, P. 2013. Degeneracy between mass and spin in black-hole-binary waveforms. Physical Review D 87(2), article number: 24035. (10.1103/PhysRevD.87.024035)
Hannam, M., Brown, D. A., Fairhurst, S., Fryer, C. L. and Harry, I. W. 2013. When can gravitational-wave observations distinguish between black holes and neutron stars?. Astrophysical Journal Letters 766(1), article number: L14. (10.1088/2041-8205/766/1/L14)
Pürrer, M., Hannam, M., Ajith, P. and Husa, S. 2013. Testing the validity of the single-spin approximation in inspiral-merger-ringdown waveforms. Physical Review D 88(6), article number: 64007. (10.1103/PhysRevD.88.064007)

2012

Kamaretsos, I., Hannam, M. and Sathyaprakash, B. S. 2012. Is black-hole ringdown a memory of its progenitor?. Physical Review Letters 109(14), article number: 141102. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.141102)
Kamaretsos, I., Hannam, M., Husa, S. and Sathyaprakash, B. S. 2012. Black-hole hair loss: learning about binary progenitors from ringdown signals. Physical Review D 85(2), article number: 24018. (10.1103/PhysRevD.85.024018)
Pürrer, M., Husa, S. and Hannam, M. 2012. An efficient iterative method to reduce eccentricity in numerical-relativity simulations of compact binary inspiral. Physical Review D 85(12), pp. 124051-124076. (10.1103/PhysRevD.85.124051)
Ajith, P. et al. 2012. The NINJA-2 catalog of hybrid post-Newtonian/numerical-relativity waveforms for non-precessing black-hole binaries. Classical and Quantum Gravity 29(12), article number: 124001. (10.1088/0264-9381/29/12/124001)
Sathyaprakash, B. S. et al. 2012. Scientific objectives of Einstein Telescope. Classical and Quantum Gravity 29(12), article number: 124013. (10.1088/0264-9381/29/12/124013)
Schmidt, P., Hannam, M. and Husa, S. 2012. Towards models of gravitational waveforms from generic binaries: A simple approximate mapping between precessing and nonprecessing inspiral signals. Physical Review D 86(10), article number: 104063 (. (10.1103/PhysRevD.86.104063)

2011

Ohme, F., Hannam, M. and Husa, S. 2011. Reliability of complete gravitational waveform models for compact binary coalescences. Physical Review D 84(6), article number: 64029. (10.1103/PhysRevD.84.064029)
Ohme, F., Hannam, M. and Husa, S. 2011. Reliability of complete gravitational waveform models for compact binary coalescences. Physical Review D 84(6), article number: 64029. (10.1103/PhysRevD.84.064029)
Schmidt, P., Hannam, M., Husa, S. and Ajith, P. 2011. Tracking the precession of compact binaries from their gravitational-wave signal. Physical Review D 84(2), article number: 24046. (10.1103/PhysRevD.84.024046)
Hild, S. et al. 2011. Sensitivity studies for third-generation gravitational wave observatories. Classical and Quantum Gravity 28(9), article number: 94013. (10.1088/0264-9381/28/9/094013)
Ajith, P. et al. 2011. Inspiral-merger-ringdown waveforms for black-hole binaries with nonprecessing spins. Physical Review Letters 106(24), article number: 241101. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.241101)
Hannam, M. and Hawke, I. 2011. Numerical relativity simulations in the era of the Einstein Telescope. General Relativity and Gravitation 43(2), pp. 465-483. (10.1007/s10714-010-1008-2)
Sathyaprakash, B. S. et al. 2011. Scientific potential of Einstein Telescope. Presented at: Rencontres de Moriond, Gravitational Waves and Experimental Gravity, La Thuile, Italy, 3-10 March 2012 Presented at Auge, E., Dumarchez, J. and Tran Thanh Van, J. eds.Proceedings of the 47th Rencontres de Moriond, Gravitational Waves and Experimental Gravity, La Thuile, Italy, 3-10 March 2012. Vietnam: The Gioi Publishers

2010

Hannam, M., Husa, S., Ohme, F. and Ajith, P. 2010. Length requirements for numerical-relativity waveforms. Physical Review D 82(12), article number: 124052. (10.1103/PhysRevD.82.124052)
Hannam, M., Husa, S., Ohme, F., Muller, D. and Brugmann, B. 2010. Simulations of black-hole binaries with unequal masses or nonprecessing spins: Accuracy, physical properties, and comparison with post-Newtonian results. Physical Review D 82(12), article number: 124008. (10.1103/PhysRevD.82.124008)
Hannam, M., Husa, S., Ohme, F., Müller, D. and Brügmann, B. 2010. Simulations of black-hole binaries with unequal masses or nonprecessing spins: Accuracy, physical properties, and comparison with post-Newtonian results. Physical Review D 82(12), article number: 124008. (10.1103/PhysRevD.82.124008)
Santamarıa, L. et al. 2010. Matching post-Newtonian and numerical relativity waveforms: Systematic errors and a new phenomenological model for nonprecessing black hole binaries. Physical Review D 82(6), article number: 64016. (10.1103/PhysRevD.82.064016)
Santamaría, L. et al. 2010. Matching post-Newtonian and numerical relativity waveforms: Systematic errors and a new phenomenological model for nonprecessing black hole binaries. Physical Review D 82(6), article number: 64016. (10.1103/PhysRevD.82.064016)

2009

Hannam, M., Husa, S. and Murchadha, N. ?. 2009. Bowen-York trumpet data and black-hole simulations. Physical Review D 80(12), article number: 124007. (10.1103/PhysRevD.80.124007)
Ohme, F., Hannam, M., Husa, S. and Murchadha, N. O. 2009. Stationary hyperboloidal slicings with evolved gauge conditions. Classical and Quantum Gravity 26(17), article number: 175014. (10.1088/0264-9381/26/17/175014)
Ohme, F., Hannam, M., Husa, S. and Murchadha, N. ?. 2009. Stationary hyperboloidal slicings with evolved gauge conditions. Classical and Quantum Gravity 26(17), article number: 175014. (10.1088/0264-9381/26/17/175014)
Ajith, P. et al. 2009. Template bank for gravitational waveforms from coalescing binary black holes: Nonspinning binaries [Phys. Rev. DPRVDAQ1550-7998 77, 104017 (2008)] [Erratum]. Physical Review D 79(12), article number: 129901(E). (10.1103/PhysRevD.79.129901)
Hannam, M. 2009. Status of black-hole-binary simulations for gravitational-wave detection. Classical and Quantum Gravity 26(11), article number: 114001. (10.1088/0264-9381/26/11/114001)
Hannam, M. et al. 2009. Samurai project: Verifying the consistency of black-hole-binary waveforms for gravitational-wave detection. Physical Review D 79(8), article number: 84025. (10.1103/PhysRevD.79.084025)

2008

Hannam, M., Husa, S., Brügmann, B. and Gopakumar, A. 2008. Comparison between numerical-relativity and post-Newtonian waveforms from spinning binaries: The orbital hang-up case. Physical Review D 78(10), article number: 104007. (10.1103/PhysRevD.78.104007)
Hannam, M., Husa, S., Ohme, F., Brugmann, B. and Murchadha, N. O. 2008. Wormholes and trumpets: Schwarzschild spacetime for the moving-puncture generation. Physical Review D 78(6), article number: 64020. (10.1103/PhysRevD.78.064020)
Gopakumar, A., Hannam, M., Husa, S. and Brügmann, B. 2008. Comparison between numerical relativity and a new class of post-Newtonian gravitational-wave phase evolutions: The nonspinning equal-mass case. Physical Review D 78(6), article number: 64026. (10.1103/PhysRevD.78.064026)
Hannam, M., Husa, S., Ohme, F., Brügmann, B. and Ó Murchadha, N. 2008. Wormholes and trumpets: Schwarzschild spacetime for the moving-puncture generation. Physical Review D 78(6), article number: 64020. (10.1103/PhysRevD.78.064020)
Damour, T., Nagar, A., Hannam, M., Husa, S. and Brügmann, B. 2008. Accurate effective-one-body waveforms of inspiralling and coalescing black-hole binaries. Physical Review D 78(4), article number: 44039. (10.1103/PhysRevD.78.044039)
Ajith, P. et al. 2008. Template bank for gravitational waveforms from coalescing binary black holes: Nonspinning binaries. Physical Review D 77(10), article number: 104017. (10.1103/PhysRevD.77.104017)
Husa, S., González, J. A., Hannam, M., Brügmann, B. and Sperhake, U. 2008. Reducing phase error in long numerical binary black hole evolutions with sixth-order finite differencing. Classical and Quantum Gravity 25(10), article number: 105006. (10.1088/0264-9381/25/10/105006)
Husa, S., Hannam, M., González, J., Sperhake, U. and Brügmann, B. 2008. Reducing eccentricity in black-hole binary evolutions with initial parameters from post-Newtonian inspiral. Physical Review D 77(4), article number: 44037. (10.1103/PhysRevD.77.044037)
Brügmann, B., González, J. A., Hannam, M., Husa, S., Sperhake, U. and Tichy, W. 2008. Calibration of moving puncture simulations. Physical Review. D, Particles and Fields 77(2), article number: 24027. (10.1103/PhysRevD.77.024027)
Hannam, M., Husa, S., González, J. A., Sperhake, U. and Brügmann, B. 2008. Where post-Newtonian and numerical-relativity waveforms meet. Physical Review. D, Particles and Fields 77(4), article number: 44020. (10.1103/PhysRevD.77.044020)
Brügmann, B., González, J. A., Hannam, M., Husa, S. and Sperhake, U. 2008. Exploring black hole superkicks. Physical Review. D, Particles and Fields 77(12), article number: 124047. (10.1103/PhysRevD.77.124047)
Babak, S., Hannam, M., Husa, S. and Schutz, B. F. 2008. Resolving Super Massive Black Holes with LISA. [Online]. arXiv. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/0806.1591
Sperhake, U., Brügmann, B., González, J. A., Hannam, M. and Husa, S. 2008. Head-on collisions of different initial data. Presented at: 11th Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity, Berlin, Germany, 23-29 July 2006 Presented at Kleinert, H. and Jantzen, R. T. eds.The 11th Marcel Grossmann Meeting: On Recent Developments in Theoretical and Experimental General Relativity, Gravitation and Relativistic Field Theories, Proceedings of the MG11 Meeting, Part 1, Berline, Germany, 23-29 July 2006. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing pp. 1612-1614., (10.1142/9789812834300_0210)

2007

Hannam, M., Husa, S., Pollney, D., Brügmann, B. and Murchadha, N. ?. 2007. Geometry and Regularity of Moving Punctures. Physical Review Letters 99(24), article number: 241102. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.241102)
Berti, E., Cardoso, V., Gonzalez, J., Sperhake, U., Hannam, M., Husa, S. and Brügmann, B. 2007. Inspiral, merger, and ringdown of unequal mass black hole binaries: A multipolar analysis. Physical Review D 76(6), article number: 64034. (10.1103/PhysRevD.76.064034)
Ajith, P. et al. 2007. A phenomenological template family for black-hole coalescence waveforms. Classical and Quantum Gravity 24(19), article number: S689. (10.1088/0264-9381/24/19/S31)
González, J. A., Hannam, M., Sperhake, U., Brügmann, B. and Husa, S. 2007. Supermassive recoil velocities for binary black-hole mergers with antialigned spins. Physical Review Letters 98(23), article number: 231101. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.231101)
Marronetti, P., Tichy, W., Brügmann, B., González, J., Hannam, M., Husa, S. and Sperhake, U. 2007. Binary black holes on a budget: simulations using workstations. Classical and Quantum Gravity 24(12), article number: S43. (10.1088/0264-9381/24/12/S05)
Hannam, M., Husa, S., Brügmann, B., González, J. A. and Sperhake, U. 2007. Beyond the Bowen-York extrinsic curvature for spinning black holes. Classical and Quantum Gravity 24(12), pp. S15-S24. (10.1088/0264-9381/24/12/S02)
González, J. A., Sperhake, U., Brügmann, B., Hannam, M. and Husa, S. 2007. Maximum kick from nonspinning black-hole binary inspiral. Physical Review Letters 98(9), article number: 91101. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.091101)
Hannam, M., Husa, S., Brügmann, B., González, J. A., Sperhake, U. and Murchadha, N. ?. 2007. Where do moving punctures go?. Journal of Physics. Conference Series 66, article number: 12047. (10.1088/1742-6596/66/1/012047)
Ajith, P. et al. 2007. Data formats for numerical relativity waves. [Online]. arXiv. Available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/0709.0093

2006

Campanelli, M., Dettwyler, M., Hannam, M. and Lousto, C. 2006. Relativistic three-body effects in black hole coalescence. Physical Review D 74(8), article number: 87503. (10.1103/PhysRevD.74.087503)

2005

Hannam, M. 2005. Quasicircular orbits of conformal thin-sandwich puncture binary black holes. Physical Review D 72(4), article number: 44025. (10.1103/PhysRevD.72.044025)
Hannam, M. D. and Cook, G. B. 2005. Conformal thin-sandwich puncture initial data for boosted black holes. Physical Review D 71(8), article number: 84023. (10.1103/PhysRevD.71.084023)

2003

Hannam, M., Evans, C., Cook, G. and Baumgarte, T. 2003. Can a combination of the conformal thin-sandwich and puncture methods yield binary black hole solutions in quasiequilibrium?. Physical Review D 68(6), article number: 64003. (10.1103/PhysRevD.68.064003)

1999

Hannam, M. and Thompson, W. J. 1999. Estimating small signals by using maximum likelihood and Poisson statistics. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 431(1-2), pp. 239-251. (10.1016/S0168-9002(99)00269-7)

1998

Mashhoon, B., Neutze, R., Hannam, M. and Stedman, G. E. 1998. Observable frequency shifts via spin-rotation coupling. Physics letters. A. 249(3), pp. 161-166. (10.1016/S0375-9601(98)00729-4)

I solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer, to calculate what happens when black holes collide. The main application currently is to use those results to produce theoretical models of the GW signals from black-hole collisions, and in turn to use those to find such signals in detector data, and to measure the properties of the source.

Numerical Relativity and Gravitational-Wave Astronomy

Numerical Relativity involves solving Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer, and one of the most exciting current applications is to model two black holes that orbit each other, inspiral together, and merge to form a single black hole.

The reason this is so topical is that these simulations are the only way to predict the gravitational-wave signal from black-hole mergers, which provided the first direct gravitational-wave observations by LIGO in 2015 -- and indeed, all of the detections so far.

Our gravitational-wave signal models were used to decipher the properties of those first direct gravitational-wave detections. As the detectors become more sensitive, and we are able to extract more detailed information from gravitational-wave signals, we need to move beyond the simple approximate models that we have developed so far, and construct precision models that capture all of the physics of black-hole-binary systems.

I currently supervise:

Gernot Heissel (2013-)
Chinmay Kalaghatgi (2015-)
Ed Fauchon-Jones (2015-)
Eleanor Hamilton (2016-)
Dave Yeeles (2017-).

Past projects

My previous students Patricia Schmidt (2010-14) and Sebastian Khan (2012-16) went on to postdoc positions at Caltech and Radboud University, and the Albert-Einstein-Institute, Hannover.

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Mark Hannam

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Numerical Relativity and Gravitational-Wave Astronomy

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