Scientific Highlights

Over 100 black holes detected by Virgo and LIGO in the first run of 2019

October 29, 2020

The classification and definitive analysis of the 39 events detected by Virgo and LIGO in the third observation period was published today on ArXiv. Most of these are black hole mergers, the characteristics of which, however, question some established astrophysical models and open up new scenarios.

QuantumCAT: Accelerating the application of quantum technologies

October 20, 2020

A consortium of research institutes and industry partners in Catalonia join forces to develop the Quantum Technologies Hub. IFAE participates.

Proposal to include the Einstein Telescope in the ESFRI roadmap presented

September 10, 2020

The proposal to include the Einstein Telescope, a pioneering third-generation gravitational-wave (GW) observatory, in the 2021 update of the European Strategic Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap has been submitted.

Virgo and LIGO unveil new and unexpected black hole populations

September 2, 2020

Virgo and LIGO have announced the detection of an extraordinarily massive merging binary system: two black holes of 66 and 85 solar masses, which generated a final black hole of around 142 solar masses.

Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, the spin-off of the UB, the BSC and the IFAE, pioneers quantum computing in Europe

July 29, 2020

Astrophysicists measure the expansion of the Universe across 11,000 million years

July 20, 2020

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) publishes a comprehensive analysis of the largest three-dimensional map of the Universe ever created, which fills the most significant voids of our exploration on the history of cosmos.

Euclid space telescope’s Near-Infrared instrument ready to draw a 3-D map of galaxies of the distant Universe

July 9, 2020

ESA’s Euclid mission to study more than a billion galaxies is a step closer to launch as its two instruments are now built and fully tested, including the complex near Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) instrument

Cosmic Cataclysm allows precise test of General Relativity

July 9, 2020

The detection of a gamma ray burst by the MAGIC telescopes allows to study whether the speed of light in vacuum is a constant of nature. The results, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, show that photons of different energies emitted about 4.5 billion years ago reach Earth with a time difference of less than one minute, thus putting a limit on the hypothesis that the velocity of photons depends on their energy.

Virgo and LIGO spot a mystery object merging with a black hole

June 23, 2020

Virgo and LIGO have announced the discovery of a compact object of about 2.6 solar masses, placing it in a range between the heaviest neutron star and the lightest black hole ever seen.