FCT Digital Services
Activity Funded
Center for Astrophysics and Gravitation
Centro de Astrofísica e Gravitação
Details
Reference
UID/PRR/00099/2025
UID/PRR/00099/2025
Project Start Date
2025-01-01
2025-01-01
Project End Date
2026-06-30
2026-06-30
4616-0554-5602 
0000-0002-5011-9195
Funding Program
Avaliação UID 2023/2024 PRR
Avaliação UID 2023/2024 PRR
Abstract
The Center for Astrophysics and Gravitation - CENTRA, is based at Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon. It envolves other institutions, such as the Faculdade de Engenharia of University of Porto and ISCTE in Lisbon. CENTRA is a leading research institution in astrophysics and gravitation. The team comprises 10 permanent faculty members, 16 FCT researchers and postdoctoral researchers, and we are currently supervising 15 PhD students.
CENTRA is structured in two main research areas: (i) Gravitation - GRIT, and (ii) Cosmology and Stars - COSTAR. CENTRA’s research spans topics, such as black holes, gravitational waves, modified gravity, fundamental physics, dark matter and dark energy, the big bang and inflationary cosmology, supernovae, solar physics, and stellar astrophysics.
CENTRA’s engagement with science includes hosting over 50 annual visitors, and promoting extensive outreach through a media presence. Our weekly seminars, broadcast on our dedicated YouTube channel, catalyze discussions on cutting-edge research, while our annual CENTRA Meeting promotes scientific exchange. Our researchers and PhD students enjoy high international mobility, with alumni holding prestigious positions in institutions like Cambridge, Harvard, and Max Planck.
CENTRA is a leader in the fields of numerical relativity, gravitational waves, and theoretical studies involving black holes, quantum mechanics, and fundamental physics. CENTRA has been pivotal in projects on the impact of dark matter on stars, and as made important contributions to supernova physics and is connection to cosmology. CENTRA participates in ESA’s LISA and ESO’s GRAVITY+ projects, both aimed at important astrophysics discoveries. CENTRA’s contributions were instrumental in the ESO’s GRAVITY project, where revolutionary studies of the supermassive black hole at our Galaxy’s center supported discoveries that led to the shared 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics by Genzel, the leader of GRAVITY. CENTRA participates in instrumentation projects like the ESO’s ELT/METIS instrument and the OPTICON EU program.
Our publication record shows over 1000 articles from 2018 to 2023, with many of these having a large number of citations, emphasizing CENTRA's impact and its leading contribution to astrophysics and gravitation. CENTRA’s research consistently attracts media interest, with its members invited to deliver many lectures and plenary talks. Our diverse research initiatives include organizing 37 workshops and conferences between 2018-2023, leading projects focused on black holes, gravitational waves, dark matter and dark energy, and supernovas. CENTRA is proud of having a member that earned an ERC Advanced Grant, displaying CENTRA’s prominence in the field of gravitational physics. Stanford University’s annual recognition of six CENTRA members among the world’s most influential scientists since 2021, along with two Outstanding APS Referees on our team, highlights CENTRA’s exceptional quality of its researchers.
Institutions
Main Institutions
- Universidade de Lisboa Centro de Astrofísica e Gravitação (ULISBOA CENTRA)
- Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento (IST-ID)
Other Institutions
- Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Engenharia (FEUP)
Funding 243.686,24 €
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Portugal
0,00 €
União Europeia - Estrutura de Missão Recuperar Portugal (UE - EMRP)
243.686,24 €