Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics
The Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics is a Max Planck Institute whose research is aimed at investigating Einstein's theory of relativity and beyond: Mathematics, quantum gravity, astrophysical relativity, and gravitational wave astronomy. The Institute was founded in 1995 and is located in Golm, Potsdam and in Hannover. The Potsdam-Golm institute is organized in three research divisions and four independent research groups, while the Hannover institute has two divisions and three independent research groups.
The institute is involved in a number of collaborations and projects: it is a main partner in the gravitational wave detector GEO 600; institute scientists are involved in analyzing data for the detectors of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and in planning and preparing the space-based detector LISA. The institute is also a major player in the Einstein@Home and PyCBC projects.
From 1998 to 2015, the institute has published the open access review journal Living Reviews in Relativity.Divisions
- Astrophysical and Cosmological Relativity at AEI Potsdam with the following central research topics
- *Theoretical Gravitational Dynamics and Radiation
- *Source Modeling and Astrophysics
- *Observing and Interpreting Gravitational Waves
- Computational Relativistic Astrophysics at AEI Potsdam
- Quantum Gravity and Unified Theories at AEI Potsdam with the following central research topics
- *Conformal Field Theory
- *Microscopic Quantum Structure and Dynamics of Spacetime
- *String Theory
- *Supergravity and Symmetries
- *Superstring Amplitudes
- Laser Interferometry and Gravitational Wave Astronomy at AEI Hannover with the following central research topics
- *Interferometry in Space
- *Interferometry on the Ground
- *Quantum Control
- Observational Relativity and Cosmology at AEI Hannover with the following central research topics
- *Einstein@Home
- *Compact Binary Coalescence Searches
- *Gamma-ray pulsar searches
- *Gravitational-wave bursts searches
Independent Research Groups
Permanent independent research groups
- Geometry and Gravitation at AEI Potsdam
- Searching for Continuous Gravitational Waves at AEI Hannover
Independent research groups
- Binary Merger Observations and Numerical Relativity ; Hannover
- Gravitational Theory and Cosmology ; Hannover
- Gravity, Quantum Fields and Information ; Potsdam
- Historical Epistemology of the Final Theory Program ; Potsdam
- Theoretical Cosmology ; Potsdam
Graduate Program
The institute participates in two International Max Planck Research Schools. Such research schools are graduate programs run by Max Planck Institutes in partnership with local universities, offering a Ph.D. degree. The partners with the Institute for Mathematics at University of Potsdam, the Institute of Physics at Humboldt University, IIT Bombay, Chennai Mathematical Institute, and the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
The is run in two collaborating branches, one in Hannover and one in Potsdam-Golm. The Hannover branch cooperates with the Leibniz University Hannover and the . The Potsdam branch cooperates with the IMPRS for Mathematical and Physical Aspects of Gravitation, Cosmology and Quantum Field Theory, the Master’s degree program in astrophysics at the University of Potsdam, the , the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics at Kyoto University, and the University of Maryland.
