This work investigates slowly rotating traversable wormholes supported by string fluids whose properties vary with distance from the throat. This radial variation allows the matter to transition smoothly from a de Sitter-like core near the center to a string-dominated environment further out, producing a regular, horizon-free, and asymptotically flat spacetime. By letting the transverse pressure depend on radius, the fluid naturally adapts to the surrounding geometry, resulting in a well-behaved energy density and shape function. Even modest rotation introduces frame-dragging effects that gently twist photon paths, creating subtle differences between co-rotating and counter-rotating trajectories. These effects are strongest near the throat, while at larger distances the spacetime is largely governed by the static gravitational potentials. Circular photon orbits reveal that the interplay of the redshift function, wormhole shape, and rotation shapes the photon-sphere structure. Different radial profiles of the string fluid generate distinctive photon-ring patterns, offering potential observational signatures of both the rotation and the internal matter distribution. Overall, radially varying string fluids provide a flexible and physically consistent source for traversable wormholes, bridging smoothly between vacuum-like and string-dominated regions while maintaining regularity and supporting slow rotation. This study highlights how anisotropic matter can influence both curvature and light propagation, providing a realistic framework for horizonless exotic spacetimes and suggesting new avenues to explore subtle observational effects around traversable wormholes.

We develop a perturbative framework for a black hole embedded in a generic, possibly anisotropic, matter environment under spherical symmetry. Our approach extends previous analyses restricted to vanishing radial pressure or to perturbative matter configurations. Within this framework, we derive an analytical generalization of the Einstein cluster that incorporates a polytropic radial pressure, and we investigate the properties of this solution. We show that both the geodesic structure and the axial quasinormal-mode spectrum remain predominantly governed by an overall gravitational redshift effect, while the radial pressure systematically enhances the environmental corrections. In contrast, the tidal Love numbers are substantially more sensitive, and can exhibit order-unity deviations, including vanishing and negative strictly static magnetic Love numbers for sufficiently large anisotropy. We present the full linearized equations, which can be applied to various extensions, including ringdown analysis and extreme-mass-ratio inspirals.

Wormholes that are traversable in principle offer fascinating insights into general relativity, yet they typically require exotic matter and suffer from stability issues. We construct a thin-shell wormhole by gluing two copies of a quantum-corrected, regular spacetime obtained from string T-duality. This regularisation replaces the classical curvature singularity with a smooth core and introduces a fundamental length scale $l_0$. For the static configuration, we derive the surface stresses and show that, unlike the Schwarzschild case, the null and strong energy conditions can be satisfied for sufficiently large throat radii. A linearised stability analysis reveals a rich landscape: close to the minimum allowed throat radius the configuration is unstable; at intermediate radii ($a \sim l_0$) the geometric stability threshold becomes negative, yielding a window of \emph{unconditional stability} where any convex surface mass function suffices; at large radii the wormhole recovers Schwarzschild-like behaviour and stability requires a stiff equation of state. The T-duality scale $l_0$ is thus not merely a regulariser but a key physical parameter that opens a novel region of unconditional stability absent in classical thin-shell wormholes. Our results suggest that quantum-gravity-motivated modifications can simultaneously cure singularities and make traversable wormholes dynamically viable, providing new targets for gravitational-wave astronomy and theoretical studies of exotic compact objects.

We perform a Hamiltonian constraint analysis of metric $f(R)$ gravity in the Jordan frame and show that the regular constraint classification degenerates on singular phase-space surfaces located at $f'(R)\!=\!0$ and $f''(R)\!=\!0$. We then study the perturbative implications of these surfaces. For exact backgrounds satisfying $f(R)\!=\!0$ and $f'(R)\!=\!0$, the linearized spectrum is empty; the known pure $R^2$ result is therefore a special case of a more general degeneracy in $f(R)$ gravity. We also show that FLRW trajectories in the Starobinsky model can cross the surface $f'(R)=0$, but that inhomogeneous perturbations develop a degenerate constraint structure at the crossing. The resulting crossing condition is better interpreted as a regularity condition for perturbative evolution than as an ordinary constraint within the Dirac--Bergmann algorithm. Together, these results distinguish backgrounds that lie entirely on a singular surface from backgrounds that cross one dynamically, and show that the two situations lead to different perturbative degeneracies.

Accurate calibration of the gravitational-wave strain h(t) is essential for both detection and astrophysical inference. In operating detectors, slow temporal variations in the sensing response are tracked using calibration lines, but practical constraints can prevent those lines from being injected at frequencies that are favorable for precise estimation of sensing-side parameters. We present a statistical framework for preselecting evaluation frequencies under such constraints. We apply this framework to KAGRA data from the first part of the fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Observing Run, for which the nominal cavity-pole frequency was about 18 Hz, while the sensing-side calibration line used in practice was injected at 32.7 Hz. For each candidate evaluation frequency, we construct the sensing function, quantify its segment-wise statistical uncertainty from empirical percentiles of the sample distribution, and rank the candidates using a score that combines the interval widths of the amplitude and phase. When a 1% amplitude interval width and a 1 degree phase interval width are weighted equally, 244 Hz is selected in all 4096 s analysis segments throughout the analyzed period. Relative to the reference frequency of 32.7 Hz, the amplitude interval width is reduced to about one quarter over a broad frequency range, while the phase interval width remains broadly comparable. We also assess the discrepancy introduced by frequency translation separately. These results suggest that the proposed method provides a useful statistical preselection framework for evaluation frequencies under practical operational constraints.

During the evolution of a binary black hole, energy and angular momentum are exchanged between the orbital motion and the individual black holes through horizon absorption, modifying both the binary dynamics and the black hole masses and spins. This leaves an imprint on the emitted gravitational waves that may be relevant for the accurate modeling of signals observed by current and future detectors, while also offering a probe of the nature of compact objects. In this work, we derive, for the first time and at leading order in the post-Newtonian expansion, the effect of horizon absorption in binary black hole inspirals with both orbital eccentricity and spin-induced precession, and we incorporate these corrections into the pyEFPEHM waveform model. We then quantify their impact through analytical estimates of the orbital dephasing, waveform mismatches, and Bayesian parameter-estimation studies. The effect is largest for systems with large spin components (anti-)aligned with the orbital angular momentum ($|\vec{\chi}_i \cdot \hat{l}| \sim 1$), highly unequal mass ratios ($q=m_2/m_1 \ll 1$), and long inspirals spanning a wide frequency range ($\log(f_\mathrm{max}/f_\mathrm{min}) \gg 1$). For such systems, neglecting horizon absorption biases the recovered binary parameters at moderate signal-to-noise ratios. In quasi-circular binaries these biases largely absorb the effect, rendering it difficult to detect. In eccentric binaries, however, the richer signal morphology breaks this degeneracy, making horizon absorption potentially measurable in high signal-to-noise-ratio events.

Gravitational waves from extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRI) provide a direct probe of the strong-field geometry of black holes. Motivated by this, we study the motion of test particles and the resulting gravitational wave emission in the spacetime of a charged black hole inspired by loop quantum gravity (LQG), where the classical singularity is replaced by a smooth transition surface arising from the LQG polymerization, in which its radius is set by the LQG area gap condition. As a result, the polymerization parameter $\delta_b$ is uniquely determined by the mass $M$ and charge parameter $Q$, so that all cases examined in this work contain LQG correction. By constructing the effective potential, the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) and the marginally bound orbit (MBO) are determined. Periodic orbits are classified using the Levin-Perez-Giz zoom-whirl taxonomy, showing how the orbit topology shapes the waveform, so that each closed trajectory is labeled by the triple integer $(z, w, v)$ and located through the rational frequency ratio $q = \omega_\phi/\omega_r - 1$. Within the quadrupole approximation, the gravitational waveforms for an EMRIs are estimated, and the resulting polarizations are obtained in the time-domain and frequency-domain. The resulting polarizations in the time-domain exhibit a zoom-whirl morphology, with the waveform amplitude and phase dependent on the LQG parameter. The characteristic strain peaks in the millihertz band for all values of the charge parameter $Q$, and they exceed the projected sensitivities of LISA, Taiji, and TianQin, suggesting that future observations could place meaningful constraints on the LQG polymerization parameter in the strong-field regime.

In this work, we investigate a cosmic inflation model based on a cosine-type potential with a negative cosmological constant. This model originates from a classical solution of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. The equation of motion for the inflaton field can be solved analytically without relying on approximation schemes, such as the slow-roll conditions. The predictions of the spectral index, the tensor-to-scalar ratio, and the running spectral index are calculated and compared with experimental constraints from Planck Collaboration, Atacama Cosmology Telescope Collaboration (ACT), and Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI).

In this paper, we investigate energy extraction via the Comisso-Asenjo (CA) magnetic reconnection process near a coupled $\mathcal{N}=2,\,U(1)^2$ gauged supergravity Black Hole (BH). Our study focuses on the combined impact of the independent parameter set $p_i\in(N_g,g,v,e)$ with the spin parameter $a$ on the extracted energy ($\epsilon_{\pm}$), efficiency ($\eta$), and extracted power ($\mathcal{P}_{CA}$), aiming to identify optimal combinations where energy can be extracted with higher efficiency in certain cases at lower spin $(a\sim0.39)$ than the Kerr extremal case $(a\sim1)$. Using the spacetime parameters, we explore various cases leading to distinct spacetimes and provide an extended comparison with the Kerr Black Hole (KBH). We also examine the influence of the orientation angle ($\xi$) and magnetization parameter ($\sigma_0$) on both efficiency and extracted power. Investigating low $[\,\forall p_i<0.2 \land N_g<0.08\,]$, mid $[\,\exists p_i\ge0.5 \land N_g\in(0.08,0.15)\,]$, high $[\,\exists p_i>0.7 \land N_g\in(0.16,0.23)\,]$, and mixed $[\,\forall p_i\in(0,1) \land N_g\in(0,0.23)\,]$ parameter combinations, we explore only extremal cases for all spacetime parameters and demonstrate that the extremal Kerr efficiency limit ($\eta>1.495$) can be exceeded. The statistical Kendall's Tau approach allows us to identify the key independent parameters acting as boosters or dampers in the energy extraction process and to visualize the relationship between $(N_g,g,v,e)$ and the physical outputs $(a_{\rm ext},r_E,r_{\rm ergo},\epsilon_{\pm},\eta,\mathcal{P}_{CA},R_{\eta},R_{\mathcal{P}})$. Furthermore, we show that the observable Lundquist number $S_{\rm obs}$ in rotating BH spacetimes acquires an observer-dependent angular dependence through the lapse function $(\alpha)$. This leads to deviations from the standard Sweet-Parker scaling when expressed in terms of observable quantities.

We investigate the critical regime $\kappa(R,T)=0$ in $\kappa(R,T)$ gravity. While most studies assume a non-vanishing effective gravitational coupling, the existence of critical hypersurfaces where $\kappa$ vanishes is a generic feature of many admissible coupling functions. We show that the apparent singularity of the non-conservation equation is an artifact of a rewritten form of the conservation law and that the fundamental equations remain regular at $\kappa=0$. We further analyze the structure of critical hypersurfaces, derive the associated compatibility condition $(\nabla^\mu\kappa)T_{\mu\nu}=0$, and discuss their interpretation as gravitational screening surfaces separating attractive and repulsive gravitational phases. The existence of critical coupling hypersurfaces also obstructs a global Einstein-frame description, distinguishing $\kappa(R,T)$ gravity from theories based solely on algebraic redefinitions of the energy-momentum tensor. Possible cosmological and astrophysical consequences are briefly explored.

The origin of cosmic acceleration remains a central problem in cosmology, commonly attributed to a cosmological constant within the $\Lambda$CDM model or to dynamical dark energy. Here, we develop an alternative approach in which acceleration emerges from quantum post-selection, a standard feature of quantum theory that is not usually incorporated into cosmological modelling. While quantum theory admits both pre-selected and post-selected ensembles, quantum cosmological models are almost exclusively formulated in terms of initial conditions. Building on previous work on post-selected quasiclassical dynamics, we construct a minimal predictive cosmological model in which post-selection and coarse-graining generate effective late-time acceleration without introducing a cosmological constant, dark energy, or modifications of general relativity. The resulting expansion history is highly constrained theoretically and depends on at most two parameters beyond standard Friedmann evolution. Confrontation with type Ia supernova and cosmic chronometer data yields statistically competitive fits while naturally avoiding the coincidence problem. The model also reproduces the standard radiation- and matter-dominated behaviour at early times and predicts a present-day jerk parameter significantly different from the $\Lambda$CDM value. These results suggest that cosmic acceleration may arise as a macroscopic quantum cosmological effect rather than from additional cosmological fluids or modified gravitational dynamics.

Three-body interactions exhibit phases of strong chaotic evolution as well as hierarchical motion where one body separates from a binary and follows a hyperbolic or elliptic trajectory around it. The binaries produced during phases of hierarchical motion may lead to gravitational wave (GW) inspirals, but this depends on the outcomes of the chaotic states. In this paper we re-derive the elliptic outcome distribution using equilibrium statistical mechanics and explore it together with the hyperbolic distribution. When comparing to N-body simulations, we find that we can reduce the elliptic outcome model to one free parameter instead of the previously used two and that the predicted disintegration probabilities agree except for very low angular momentum triples. We then use both outcome distributions along with a star cluster model to design a Monte Carlo algorithm for repeated binary-single scatterings within dense star systems. We explore star cluster masses of $[10^5 - 10^7] M_{\odot}$, with the goal of quantifying observably eccentric merger (OEM) GWs, visible to instruments such as LIGO and Virgo. Assuming an OEM detection sensitivity of $f_{\rm min}=10 {\rm Hz}, e_{\rm min} = 0.1$, we find the elliptic OEMs are about $\sim (32 - 63)\%$ of the total elliptic mergers and that the total cluster mass greatly impacts the fraction of ejected binaries. The OEM to total merger fraction (OEM fraction) is found to be $(2.6 - 4.4)\%$. Considering the detection sensitivity that GW interferometers have today $(f_{\rm min} \simeq 34.4 {\rm Hz})$ we obtain the OEM fraction in the $(1.6 - 3.1)\%$ range.

We investigate the existence and implications of ``bouncing geodesics'' in asymptotically flat Schwarzschild and Schwarzschild--de Sitter black holes. These trajectories, which probe the high-curvature regions near the black hole singularity, correspond to specific ``bouncing singularities'' in the bulk retarded Green's function. We provide a precise description of these singularities by combining the local Hadamard form with the global propagation of singularities theorem. We then derive the critical times at which the bulk retarded correlator becomes singular, considering all possible anchorings of the bouncing geodesics, including null infinity and the cosmological horizon. Finally, for black holes enclosed in a reflecting cavity, we establish a universal connection between the locations of the bouncing singularities and the spectrum of cavity quasinormal modes (QNMs) by deriving a cavity version of the thermal product formula, analogous to the one known for anti-de Sitter black holes. This relation allows one to extract information about the black hole interior from the asymptotic QNM spectrum measured at a reflecting hypersurface, even when the cosmological constant is zero or positive. We confirm this prediction through explicit examples by computing the cavity QNMs of scalar and electromagnetic fields, as well as gravitational waves, in spacetimes with asymptotically flat and de Sitter black holes.

We conduct a global general relativistic neutrino-radiation-transfer magnetohydrodynamics simulation of a $1.35$-$1.35M_\odot$ binary neutron star with the unprecedented spatial resolution of $6.25$\,m on the Japanese supercomputer FUGAKU. The total consumed CPU time is $\approx 530$ million core hours. We initialize the binary neutron star's magnetic field to be $3.16\times 10^{12}$~G at maximum, which is compatible with the upper end of the observed binary pulsars. We demonstrate that the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability that emerges when the two neutron stars touch amplifies the magnetic field to an expected electromagnetic saturation energy of $\sim 10^{50}$~erg within $3$~ms after the merger. The spectral analysis indicates that the Kazantsev and Kolmogorov spectra are reproduced in the magnetic and kinetic power spectral densities, respectively. We also find that it induces stellar-scale magnetic field amplification by at least a factor of $316$. We conclude that a magnetar may form at least temporarily following neutron star mergers in a few ms.

We recast Einstein's equations as ordinary integro-differential equations for the worldlines, integrating out the gravitational field by means of the Schwinger-Keldysh path integral. The same framework allows the gravitational waveform to be computed for unspecified orbits. The two computations are independent: solutions of the equations of motion can then be inserted to reconstruct the waveform for generic orbits. The derivation of the equations of motion does not require a map between scattering and bound-orbit observables. Thus, it could be implemented within an Effective One-Body-inspired framework, with the advantage that retardation and radiation effects are automatically included: no separation between potential and radiation modes is required. Conversely, the waveform computation may provide an alternative to the Effective One-Body approach, if supplemented by suitable resummation schemes. We emphasise that computations in this framework bypass the need for integration-by-parts identities, which are the main technical bottleneck in the computation of observables. In this paper, we outline the general framework and present a computational strategy at leading and next-to-leading order in the weak-field expansion.

Gravitational-wave interferometers exhibit a wide variety of short-duration non-Gaussian transients, commonly referred to as glitches, that complicate the detection of astrophysical signals, bias parameter estimation, and detector characterisation. Existing machine-learning approaches classify glitch morphologies but do not provide a complete mechanism to segment and extract these disturbances from the strain data. We introduce a wavelet-based, saliency-guided framework for the supervised extraction of transient noise. Candidates are first pre-tagged using Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection, which is also used as a diagnostic of the learned representations. A traditional learning model operating on Continuous Wavelet Transform spectrograms then identifies relevant time-frequency regions through saliency maps. These saliency patterns are transferred to an invertible multiresolution representation via the Discrete Wavelet Transform, where adaptive coefficient masking enables exact reconstruction of both glitch-only and glitch-suppressed waveforms. We demonstrate effective extraction across several representative glitch families, including 'Whistle' and 'Scattered-Light' transients, and show robustness in challenging regimes such as low signal-to-noise events and partially overlapping structures, where classical thresholding or band-limited filtering methods typically fail or introduce leakage. The proposed framework offers an interpretable and computationally efficient approach to transient-noise extraction, establishing a foundation for scalable applications to larger glitch catalogs and future observing runs.

We investigate the atomic transition probabilities in atom-mirror set-ups that are in circular motion. In one scenario, the atom is in circular motion inside a static cylindrical mirror. In the other scenario, the cylindrical mirror rotates around its central axis while the atom remains static. We report structural similarity in the atomic transition probabilities between these two cases -- these probabilities are equivalent upon interchanging the field frequencies between the two scenarios. We interpret such an observation as a semi-classical phenomenon analogous to the classical Mach's principle.

We study the effects of dimension-four and dimension-six nonminimal Higgs couplings to the Ricci scalar $R$ in the $R^2$-Higgs inflation model in light of the recent ACT and SPT observations. We show that the dimension-six operators $|\Phi|^2 R^2$ and $|\Phi|^4 R$ can accommodate the enhanced scalar spectral index $n_s$ preferred by the combined CMB+BAO analyses. Using a doubly covariant formalism, we find that the same region of parameter space that explains the observed value of $n_s$ can also induce rapid preheating through the production of the Goldstone modes. If thermalization proceeds efficiently through this preheating mechanism, it may help match the inflationary scale with the CMB reference scale.

Spherically symmetric, general relativistic Bondi accretion is known as the Michel flow. The stationary integral transonic solutions for the Michel flow has been constructed for multi-component accretion described by an equation of state where the adiabatic index varies with the radial distance along which the streamlines are studied, and the corresponding phase portrait spanned by such radial distance and the flow Mach number has been obtained. Borrowing the techniques used in the dynamical systems theory, the nature of the transonic points of the aforementioned flow has been classified. The steady state flow has been perturbed to study the stability of the stationary solutions, and it has been found that such flows are stable under the (linear) radial perturbation. As a consequence of the stability analysis, the corresponding acoustic space time embedded within the accreting matter has been obtained, and the horizon of the metric of such sonic space time has been identified by constructing the causal structure with the help of the Carter-Penrose diagrams. In this way, the accreting black hole systems in the general relativistic set up has been investigated from various different perspectives - from its astrophysical aspects, from the dynamical systems point of view, as well as within the realm of the classical analogue gravity phenomena.

In this work, we systematically study the gravitational lensing properties and observational signatures of compact boson stars. Unlike black holes, the photon effective potential of a compact boson star develops a nearly flat region, whose width increases with the compactness of the star. This flat structure significantly broadens the range of impact parameters that can produce large-angle deflections, leading to noticeably wider lensing rings of all orders. Photons constituting these rings traverse more complex paths, rendering the resulting images more sensitive to the spatial distribution of the accretion flow. Ray tracing results show that, compared to black hole models, the image topology and visibility amplitudes of compact boson stars exhibit a stronger dependence on the accretion flow structure. These results highlight qualitative differences in the observational properties of compact boson stars and black holes.

The distribution of the effective inspiral spin ($\chi_\mathrm{eff}$) of the binary black holes detected by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA can shed light on their formation pathways. We analyze the GWTC-5.0 dataset with two models-one flexible, one fully parametric-that jointly describe $\chi_\mathrm{eff}$ and primary mass. We clarify that the previously-reported skewness in the $\chi_\mathrm{eff}$ distribution is better understood as additional structure beyond a non-skewed Gaussian bulk centered at small $\chi_\mathrm{eff}$. This additional structure extends to larger $|\chi_\mathrm{eff}|$, a result previously reported using GWTC-4.0 data. We measure the asymmetry of the distribution of $\chi_\mathrm{eff}$ outside the Gaussian bulk from the data. With both the parametric and the flexible analyses, we find tentative evidence for a mass-dependent excess of positive $\chi_\mathrm{eff}$ over negative ones outside the Gaussian bulk. Only at $m_1 \in [46,65]\,M_\odot$ do the data require a negative $\chi_\mathrm{eff}$ component outside the Gaussian bulk, with $23\text{:}1$ odds. If $\chi_\mathrm{eff}$ outside the Gaussian bulk are produced by hierarchical mergers-as it has been suggested-then a fraction of those mergers may be produced in environments that can generate a surplus of binaries with positive $\chi_\mathrm{eff}$, such as the disks of active galactic nuclei.

We investigate exact solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell equations with the cosmological constant where the source of the gravitational field consists of a magnetic field and dust. In particular, we restrict our study to the case of Bianchi type III models. All these solutions either start with a singularity and then expand, or they are initially collapsing and end at a singularity. We discuss the physical meaning of the parameters appearing in the metrics and examine the possible subcases and the relative importance of the dust and the magnetic field as we approach the singularity.

We study the formation and behaviour of bound states formed outside the horizon of a black hole in the presence of quintessence matter. Calculating the Regge and Wheeler potential for general metric function, we find that the presence of quintessence influences significantly the metric function and the Hawking temperature. We show that large black holes radiate less in the presence of quintessence matter and it seems to live longer, while small black holes radiate more in comparison with the model in the absence of quintessence. Bound states emerge at large enough quintessence parameter $|w|$ or angular momentum.

We present a theoretical study of the magnetic field generated by a toroidal current loop situated in the equatorial plane of a non-rotating Schwarzschild black hole, based on the dynamics of charged particles. Using the exact general relativistic solution for the magnetic field, we analyze particle motion both analytically and numerically, identifying regions of stable and unstable orbits. In particular, we classify charged particle dynamics into attractive and repulsive Lorentz force configurations and show that in the attractive case, charged particles can accumulate near the current loop, forming collective currents that oppose the original current loop magnetic field. We demonstrate that charged particle accumulation can lead to the formation of toroidal structures analogous to radiation belts in the BH magnetosphere. We compare the curved spacetime solution to flat spacetime analogs and highlight general relativistic effects such as the existence of the innermost stable circular orbit for charged particles, which sets a lower bound for radiation belt formation. The divergence of the vector potential at the loop location in the idealized infinitesimal loop model is addressed, and we argue that a physically realistic model must consider a finite-width current distribution to avoid unphysical divergences in the effective potential.

Mergers of white dwarf binaries are a possible progenitor channel for Type Ia supernovae. While white dwarfs are abundant in the universe and relatively well understood, their gravitational wave signals have not yet been directly observed. In order to detect gravitational waves from merging white dwarf binaries, a detector in the mid-band between LVK and LISA appears necessary. In this paper, we compute and discuss the gravitational waves emitted by inspiraling and merging white dwarf binaries, and assess their detectability with proposed space-based atom-interferometer detectors such as MAGIS Space and AEDGE. Gravitational waves from massive white dwarf binaries can be observed for many years before merger, offering a unique early warning of their final explosion. Our projections suggest that MAGIS Space could detect signals from Type Ia supernova progenitors at least once every four years, while AEDGE could observe at least a few hundred such events annually. The prolonged gravitational wave emission captured by atom-interferometers provides precise sky localisation and can allow observation of the final explosion with electromagnetic telescopes. The combined observation with electromagnetic radiation from the white dwarf binary coalescence could open a new pathway for multi-messenger astronomy involving some of the brightest transient events in the universe.

We apply a finite-time geometric optimization framework to investigate thermal fluctuations and (non)equilibrium optimal processes in the $(2+1)$-dimensional BTZ black hole. Employing Hessian thermodynamic information metrics, we construct geodesic trajectories that define optimal protocols connecting distinct thermodynamic configurations. Finite-time state transitions are described by paths that extremize entropy production or energy dissipation, depending on the chosen thermodynamic representation. { We compare our optimization framework with a non-optimal blackbody Hawking evaporation model, revealing substantial differences between the two descriptions. Finally, we quantify the intrinsic efficiency of both types of processes in terms of the extractable rotational energy stored in the black hole configurations.} This work presents the first formulation of a geometric optimal control theory for the BTZ black hole.

Gravitational wave echoes offer a unique probe of the near-horizon structure of astrophysical black holes, beyond the standard "black hole spectroscopy." Theoretical waveform predictions, however, remain uncertain, motivating robust searches that avoid specific echo modeling. We present a model-agnostic search framework targeting long-lived quasinormal modes (QNMs) expected from strong interior reflection. By employing a generalized phase-marginalized likelihood that coherently combines data for each QNM across a detector network, our method enhances sensitivity to the signals. To handle real detector noise, we implement an optimized notching procedure to suppress instrumental spectral lines and refine the Bayesian parameter settings. We validate the performance of this framework using injection studies on O1 background data, demonstrating reliable signal recovery in realistic noise conditions. We then apply this method to three binary black hole merger events with high ringdown signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs): GW150914 from O1, GW231226 from O4a, and the recently reported O4 event GW250114. No statistically significant evidence for postmerger echoes is found. Consequently, we derive 90% upper limits on the network SNR and the average initial strain amplitude of the long-lived QNMs. These results provide model-agnostic constraints on late-time echoes from LVK data, complementing existing searches for other echo signatures.

We investigate a class of first-order scalar field theories minimally coupled to a Carrollian connection that are defined intrinsically on the Carrollian plane, i.e., the theories are not defined via limits of Lorentzian theories. The theories built are invariant under the extended Carrollian transformations which include supertranslations. The symmetry allows for a large class of Lagrangians, independence of spacetime coordinates is all that is required. However, invariance under supertranslations (which include boosts as linear supertranslations) forces the energy density to be static and the momentum density to vanish -- this precludes on-shell propagation of fields. Thus, to have propagating theories, one must move beyond single field theories that are minimally coupled to the geometry.

Testing general relativity in the strong-field and highly dynamical regime is now possible through current gravitational-wave observations, where even a single high-quality detection can place competitive constraints on deviations from Einstein's theory. The parametrized post-Einsteinian framework provides a theory-agnostic approach to search for such deviations, but it typically assumes that systematic uncertainties in the base waveform model, particularly those arising from calibration to numerical relativity, are negligible. In this work, we investigate how calibration errors in the late-inspiral fitting coefficients of the IMRPhenomD waveform model can lead to spurious detections of departures from general relativity in parametrized tests. We use an uncertainty-aware version of IMRPhenomD, recalibrated to a set of numerical relativity surrogate waveforms and equipped with a probabilistic description of its fitting coefficients, to simulate general-relativity-consistent signals. We inject these signals into an O5 ground-based detector network and recover them with the original IMRPhenomD model augmented with a parametrized post-Einsteinian phase deformation. We find that false violations of general relativity using this model arise for network signal-to-noise ratios as low as 60. When the uncertainty-aware model is used instead, the inferred parametrized post-Einsteinian phase deformation remains consistent with zero even for signals with a signal-to-noise ratio up to 330. These results demonstrate the need to account for numerical relativity calibration uncertainty in order to perform reliable inspiral tests of general relativity. They also illustrate that explicitly incorporating numerical relativity calibration uncertainty into the waveform model preserves our ability to robustly test general relativity.

We compute numerically the time evolution of simple semiclassical states describing homogeneous and isotropic spatial geometries in quantum-reduced loop gravity under a deparametrized formulation of the dynamics, in which a reference matter field is taken as a relational time variable for the dynamics of quantum states of the gravitational field. The states which we consider are defined on the Hilbert space of a spin network graph formed by a single six-valent vertex. We find that the quantum dynamics is generally in close agreement with the semiclassical effective dynamics of a homogeneous and isotropic universe throughout the range of validity of the numerical approximation. In particular, an initial state describing a contracting geometry undergoes a dynamical "bounce", where the contraction is halted and turned into an expansion by the quantum dynamics.