Dr Sam Dolan
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Head of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics Research Cluster
Senior Lecturer of Applied Mathematics
Course Director for the MSc Mathematical and Theoretical Physics programme
s.dolan@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 3708
+44 114 222 3708
G18, Hicks Building
Full contact details
Dr Sam Dolan
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
G18
Hicks Building
Hounsfield Road
Sheffield
S3 7RH
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
G18
Hicks Building
Hounsfield Road
Sheffield
S3 7RH
- Research interests
-
I am interested in the foundations and predictions of two very successful theories:
- Einstein's theory of General Relativity, which describes gravity, and the structure of the Universe on the largest scales - e.g. galaxies, black holes and the big bang.
- Quantum Field Theory (QFT), which describes the subatomic world and the weird quantum vacuum in which fundamental particles (eg. electrons, quarks, the Higgs boson, etc.) are created and destroyed.
Both theories are well-tested within their own regimes, and yet they seem to be fundamentally incompatible when brought together. This prevents us from fully understanding extreme scenarios, like the birth of the Universe, or the formation of black holes.The predictions of QFT have been tested to extraordinary precision in the laboratory. To test Einstein's theory, we must look out into the galaxy and beyond. A key prediction of the theory is the existence of Gravitational Waves: propagating ripples in spacetime created by the massive bodies in motion. There is strong indirect evidence for their existence, coming from decades-long observations of binary pulsars. But as yet there is no direct evidence, because GWs are extremely weak by the time they reach Earth. It is very plausible that the first detection will be made in 2015 by newly-upgraded detectors. If detected, gravitational waves will give us an exciting new way of viewing the Universe, which will reveal some of the most energetic processes - such as the merger of black holes - which are currently hidden from view behind shrouds of dust and plasma. With this goal in mind, my recent work has been focussed on modelling the GW signal that is generated by black hole mergers, to help in our search for the 'needle in the haystack'.
- Publications
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Show: Featured publications All publications
Featured publications
Journal articles
- Metric perturbations of Kerr spacetime in Lorenz gauge: circular equatorial orbits. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 41. View this article in WRRO
- Self-force via $m$-mode regularization and 2+1D evolution: III. Gravitational field on Schwarzschild spacetime.
- Wave Propagation and Quasinormal Mode Excitation on Schwarzschild Spacetime. Phys.Rev., D84, 104002-104002.
- Self-Force Calculations with Matched Expansions and Quasinormal Mode Sums. Phys.Rev., D79, 124043-124043.
- Phenomenology of Production and Decay of Spinning Extra-Dimensional Black Holes at Hadron Colliders. JHEP, 0910, 014-014.
- Scattering and Absorption of Gravitational Plane Waves by Rotating Black Holes. Class.Quant.Grav., 25, 235002-235002.
All publications
Journal articles
- Metric perturbations of Kerr spacetime in Lorenz gauge: circular equatorial orbits. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 41. View this article in WRRO
- Absorption and unbounded superradiance in a static regular black hole spacetime. Physical Review D, 109(6), 064053.
- Gravitational perturbations of rotating black holes in Lorenz gauge. Physical Review Letters, 128(15).
- Quasinormal modes of massive vector fields on the Kerr spacetime. Physical Review D, 102(10).
- Dissipation in extreme mass-ratio binaries with a spinning secondary. Physical Review D, 102(6).
- Series reduction method for scattering of planar waves by Kerr black holes. Physical Review D, 102(4).
- Preface: Amazonia in the route of General Relativity. International Journal of Modern Physics D, 29(11).
- Prospects for fundamental physics with LISA. General Relativity and Gravitation, 52(8).
- Scattering from compact objects: Regge poles and the complex angular momentum method. Physical Review D, 101(10). View this article in WRRO
- Scattering of massless bosonic fields by Kerr black holes: On-axis incidence. Physical Review D, 100(8). View this article in WRRO
- Electromagnetic fields on Kerr spacetime, Hertz potentials, and Lorenz gauge. Physical Review D, 100(4). View this article in WRRO
- Rainbow scattering of gravitational plane waves by a compact body. Physical Review D, 100(2). View this article in WRRO
- Waves on a vortex: rays, rings and resonances. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 857, 291-311. View this article in WRRO
- Instability of the Proca field on Kerr spacetime. Physical Review D, 98(10). View this article in WRRO
- Wada structures in a binary black hole system. Physical Review D, 98(8). View this article in WRRO
- Absorption of electromagnetic plane waves by rotating black holes. Physical Review D, 98. View this article in WRRO
- On-axis scalar absorption cross section of Kerr–Newman black holes: Geodesic analysis, sinc and low-frequency approximations. International Journal of Modern Physics D. View this article in WRRO
- Geometrical optics for scalar, electromagnetic and gravitational waves on curved spacetime. International Journal of Modern Physics D, 27(11), 1843010-1843010. View this article in WRRO
- Preface. International Journal of Modern Physics D, 27(11), 1802004-1802004.
- Absorption of electromagnetic and gravitational waves by Kerr black holes. Physics Letters B. View this article in WRRO
- Viewpoint: Spinning Black Holes May Grow Hair. Physics, 10, 83-83. View this article in WRRO
- Rainbow scattering in the gravitational field of a compact object. Physical Review D, 95. View this article in WRRO
- Spin–orbit precession for eccentric black hole binaries at first order in the mass ratio. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 34(8). View this article in WRRO
- Addendum to “Absorption of a massive scalar field by a charged black hole”. Physical Review D, 95(4). View this article in WRRO
- Stable photon orbits in stationary axisymmetric electrovacuum spacetimes. Physical Review D. View this article in WRRO
- Absorption of massless scalar field by rotating black holes. International Journal of Modern Physics D, 25(09). View this article in WRRO
- Waves and null congruences in a draining bathtub. International Journal of Modern Physics D, 25. View this article in WRRO
- Binary black hole shadows, chaotic scattering and the Cantor set. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 33(17). View this article in WRRO
- Stability of gravitating charged-scalar solitons in a cavity. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 94(2). View this article in WRRO
- Bound states of the Dirac equation on Kerr spacetime. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 32(18), 184001-184001. View this article in WRRO
- Absorption of a massive scalar field by a charged black hole. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 89(10).
- Self-force via Green functions and worldline integration. Phys.Rev., D89, 084021-084021.
- Gravitational self-torque and spin precession in compact binaries. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 89(6).
- Absorption of planar massless scalar waves by Kerr black holes. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 88(6).
- Self-force and Green function in Schwarzschild spacetime via quasinormal modes and branch cut. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 88(4).
- Superradiant instabilities of rotating black holes in the time domain. Phys.Rev., D87, 124026-124026.
- Resonances of a rotating black hole analogue. Phys.Rev., D85, 044031-044031.
- Massive vector fields on the Schwarzschild spacetime: quasi-normal modes and bound states. Phys.Rev., D85, 044043-044043.
- Self-force via $m$-mode regularization and 2+1D evolution: III. Gravitational field on Schwarzschild spacetime.
- Scattering by a draining bathtub vortex.
- Self force via m-mode regularization and 2+1D evolution: Foundations and a scalar-field implementation on Schwarzschild. Phys.Rev., D83, 024019-024019.
- Self force via $m$-mode regularization and 2+1D evolution: II. Scalar-field implementation on Kerr spacetime. Phys.Rev., D84, 084001-084001.
- Wave Propagation and Quasinormal Mode Excitation on Schwarzschild Spacetime. Phys.Rev., D84, 104002-104002.
- Aharonov-Bohm effect in a draining bathtub vortex. Phys.Lett., B701, 485-489-485-489.
- The Quasinormal Mode Spectrum of a Kerr Black Hole in the Eikonal Limit. Phys.Rev., D82, 104003-104003.
- Absorption of planar waves in a draining bathtub. Phys.Rev., D81, 124013-124013.
- Quasinormal modes and Regge poles of the canonical acoustic hole. Phys.Rev., D82, 084037-084037.
- Scattering of sound waves by a canonical acoustic hole. Phys.Rev., D79, 064014-064014.
- Self-Force Calculations with Matched Expansions and Quasinormal Mode Sums. Phys.Rev., D79, 124043-124043.
- Phenomenology of Production and Decay of Spinning Extra-Dimensional Black Holes at Hadron Colliders. JHEP, 0910, 014-014.
- Pade Approximants of the Green Function in Spherically Symmetric Spacetimes. Phys.Rev., D79, 124044-124044.
- The Massive Dirac field on a rotating black hole spacetime: Angular solutions. Class.Quant.Grav., 26, 175020-175020.
- Scattering of massless scalar waves by Reissner-Nordstrom black holes. Phys.Rev., D79, 064022-064022.
- Angular profile of emission of non-zero spin fields from a higher-dimensional black hole. Phys.Lett., B680, 365-370-365-370. View this article in WRRO
- Electromagnetic wave scattering by Schwarzschild black holes. Phys.Rev.Lett., 102, 231103-231103.
- On an Expansion Method for Black Hole Quasinormal Modes and Regge Poles. Class.Quant.Grav., 26, 225003-225003.
- Scattering of long-wavelength gravitational waves. Phys.Rev., D77, 044004-044004.
- Scattering and Absorption of Gravitational Plane Waves by Rotating Black Holes. Class.Quant.Grav., 25, 235002-235002.
- Polarization of Long-Wavelength Gravitational Waves by Rotating Black Holes.
- Bulk Emission of Scalars by a Rotating Black Hole. JHEP, 0806, 071-071. View this article in WRRO
- Brane decay of a ( 4+n)-dimensional rotating black hole. III: spin-1/2 particles. J HIGH ENERGY PHYS(3). View this article in WRRO
- Instability of the massive Klein-Gordon field on the Kerr spacetime. Phys.Rev., D76, 084001-084001.
- Fermion scattering by a Schwarzschild black hole. Phys.Rev., D74, 064005-064005.
- Fermion absorption cross section of a Schwarzschild black hole. Phys.Rev., D71, 124020-124020.
- Bound states and decay times of fermions in a Schwarzschild black hole background. Phys.Rev., D72, 105014-105014.
- Superradiant instability of a charged regular black hole. Physical Review D, 109(12).
- Adiabatic inspirals under electromagnetic radiation reaction on Kerr spacetime. Physical Review D, 109(4).
- Wave focusing by submerged islands and gravitational analogues. Physical Review Research, 4(3).
- Conversion of electromagnetic and gravitational waves by a charged black hole. Physical Review D, 106(4).
- Electromagnetic self-force on a charged particle on Kerr spacetime: Equatorial circular orbits. Physical Review D, 106(2).
- Octupolar invariants for compact binaries on quasicircular orbits. Physical Review D, 92(12). View this article in WRRO
- Scattering from charged black holes and supergravity. Physical Review D, 92(8). View this article in WRRO
- Tidal invariants for compact binaries on quasicircular orbits. Physical Review D, 91(2). View this article in WRRO
- Inferring black hole charge from backscattered electromagnetic radiation. Physical Review D, 90(6). View this article in WRRO
- Kermions: quantization of fermions on Kerr space-time. Phys.Rev.D, 87, 064027. View this article in WRRO
- Publisher’s Note: Wave propagation and quasinormal mode excitation on Schwarzschild spacetime [Phys. Rev. D84, 104002 (2011)]. Physical Review D, 84(10).
- Spectral lines of extreme compact objects. Physical Review D, 98(10). View this article in WRRO
- Ergoregion instability of exotic compact objects: Electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations and the role of absorption. Physical Review D, 99(6). View this article in WRRO
- Gravitational Self-Force Correction to the Innermost Stable Circular Equatorial Orbit of a Kerr Black Hole. Physical Review Letters, 113(16).
- Stability of black holes in Einstein-charged scalar field theory in a cavity. Physical Review D, 92(12). View this article in WRRO
- Electromagnetic self-force on a charged particle on Kerr spacetime:
equatorial circular orbits.
Conference proceedings papers
- Einstein-Charged Scalar Field Theory: Black Hole Solutions and Their Stability (pp 69-74) View this article in WRRO
- Absorption cross section of a massive scalar field by a Reissner-Nordström black hole. The Fourteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting
- Black hole solutions in Einstein-charged scalar field theory. The Fourteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting View this article in WRRO
- AHARONOV-BOHM EFFECT IN A ROTATING ACOUSTIC BLACK HOLE. The Thirteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting
- QUASINORMAL MODES OF THE DRAINING BATHTUB. The Thirteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting
- ABSORPTION OF SCALAR WAVES BY STATIC BLACK HOLES AND ANALOGUES. The Twelfth Marcel Grossmann Meeting
- Method of Matched Expansions and the Singularity Structure of the Green Function (pp 844-847-844-847)
- Trove. Proceedings of the 2005 joint conference on Smart objects and ambient intelligence: innovative context-aware services: usages and technologies
Preprints
- Superradiant instability of a charged regular black hole.
- Adiabatic inspirals under electromagnetic radiation reaction on Kerr
spacetime.
- Metric perturbations of Kerr spacetime in Lorenz gauge: Circular
equatorial orbits.
- Higher-order geometrical optics for circularly-polarized electromagnetic waves.
- Metric perturbations of Kerr spacetime in Lorenz gauge: circular equatorial orbits. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 41. View this article in WRRO
- Research group
- Grants
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Current grants, as Coinvestigator
STFC Consortium: Fundamental Physics - Lancaster-Manchester-Sheffield STFC Past grants, as Principal Investigator
New invariants for the gravitational two-body problem EPSRC Past grants, as Coinvestigator
STFC Consolidated Grant Renewal STFC
- Teaching activities
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MAS116 Mathematical Investigation Skills MAS314 Introduction to Relativity MAS61009 Research Skills in Mathematics