Riccardo Gonzo

Welcome! I am Riccardo Gonzo, a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Southampton. Previously, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Theoretical Physics, Queen Mary University of London and the Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Edinburgh. My research lies at the interface of high-energy physics and general relativity, with the goal of developing new analytical tools for modelling gravitational-wave signals from binary black hole systems.

What I think about all day (and sometimes all night)

Most of my time goes into understanding how gravity works when two black holes interact and spiral together. To tackle this, I combine modern tools from particle physics — such as scattering amplitudes — with traditional methods from general relativity, including the self-force expansion. My goal is to develop a unified analytic framework that describes binary dynamics across all regimes, from the weak-field inspiral to the strong-field merger and ringdown.

In practice, this means developing theoretical models to describe gravitational waveforms, the signals detected by ground- and space-based interferometers, from LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA today to LISA and the Einstein Telescope in the future. I am particularly excited about how amplitude-based ideas can simplify calculations and uncover hidden structures in gravity, providing new ingredients for accurate waveform modelling and, ultimately, deeper insights into both fundamental physics and astrophysics.

Who I work with

I have had the privilege of working with some amazing people on many interesting topics in particle physics and gravity. The network below shows these collaborations: click on a person or paper for more information.

Where my research takes me

I have had the good fortune to visit many wonderful places around the world to present my work. The markers show where I have given talks: click on them for more details.