PPC 2026

Session

Gravity and Gravitational Waves

1 Sept 2026, 14:00

53. Pulsar Timing Arrays as Probe of Massive Gravity

Prof. Tina Kahniashvili (Carnegie Mellon University (USA) & Ilia State University (Georgia))

01/09/2026, 14:00

Gravity and gravitational waves

Recent detection of stochastic gravitational wave background by pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) missions opens a new window of testing fundamental physics laws at energy scales far beyond what is reached by particle physics experiments and/or by astrophysical observations; I will discuss the PTAs data in the context of massive gravity independently of the gravitational wave signal origin...

5. Perturbative Analysis of Teleparallel Gauss--Bonnet Gravity

Prof. Bivudutta Mishra (BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus)

01/09/2026, 14:25

Dark energy

The Gauss-Bonnet invariant connects foundational aspects of geometry with physical phenomena in a variety of ways. Teleparallel gravity offers a novel direction in which to use the Gauss-Bonnet invariant to go beyond standard cosmology. In this work, we explore the cosmological perturbations of teleparallel gravity generalized through the Gauss-Bonnet invariant. This is crucial in...

20. Neutron-Star Cooling in Linear $f(R,T)$ Gravity

CHARUL RATHOD

01/09/2026, 14:50

Particle astrophysics

The present study explores the thermal evolution and emission properties of neutron stars by combining $f(R,T)$-modified equilibrium stellar backgrounds with the NSCool cooling framework. We compute stellar mass and pressure profiles by solving the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations in both Einstein gravity and modified gravity by employing the APR, FPS, and SLy equations of state. Using...

69. Crowdsourcing Gravitational Waves from Superradiance: Black Holes as Extreme Axion Laboratories

Orion Ning (University of California, Berkeley)

01/09/2026, 15:15

Particle astrophysics

Black hole (BH) superradiance is a powerful probe of ultralight axions. If nature contains a boson with a mass of order $10^{-12}$ eV, vacuum fluctuations will lead to its efficient production around spinning stellar mass BHs, forming a gravitational atom that both drains the BH spin and decays to produce near-monochromatic gravitational waves. Existing superradiance constraints derive...

81. Decoding Gravitational Waves: Why Model Matters

Liliana Velasco-Sevilla (Yonsei University)

03/09/2026, 16:10

Gravity and gravitational waves

Bayesian inference provides powerful constraints from LIGO gravitational wave observations, yet model-independent parameter reconstruction alone cannot unambiguously distinguish competing theoretical frameworks. We examine the limitations of standard Bayesian analysis and argue that unambiguous physical insight requires embedding LIGO, or any other GW experiment, constraints within concrete...

85. Simulating gravitational wave from sound waves of cosmological first-order phase transitions in an expanding Universe

Xiao Wang (Monash University)

03/09/2026, 16:35

Inflation and early universe physics

We perform the first 3-dimensional numerical simulations of cosmological first-order phase transitions that consistently incorporate both the evolution of background metric and the evolution of the strength of phase transitions throughout the entire phase transition. We find that, in addition to reducing bubble separations via an effectively increased nucleation rate, cosmic expansion...

23. Phase transitions and gravitational waves from minimal KSZV extension

Kristjan Muursepp

03/09/2026, 17:00

Inflation and early universe physics

In this talk I will discuss a recent work studying the viability of first order phase transitions and the detectability of the associated gravitational waves in a minimal KSZV axion model, which is extended with a single heavy degree of freedom. I will delineate the parameter space in which the phase transition accompanied by obersevable gravitational wave signal for ET or CE can take place...