Michela Mapelli's research focuses on the astrophysics of gravitational-wave sources. In September 2015, LIGO observed for the first time gravitational waves emitted from a merging black hole binary. Stellar-sized, intermediate-mass and super-massive black hole binaries populate our Universe and are powerful sources of gravitational waves, which can be captured by ground-based and space-borne laser interferometers. The Gravitational Wave Astrophysics group at University of Innsbruck investigates the formation and the evolution of black hole binaries over many different spatial scales and mass ranges, by means of advanced numerical codes.
