Petr Kotlarik
email: petr.kotlarik@asu.cas.cz
phone: +420
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the group led by Georgios-Loukes Gerakopoulos. I completed my PhD at Charles University in June 2024, where I studied how additional gravitational sources, such as discs or rings, modify the gravitational field of a black hole. My current research at ASU focuses on gravitational waves, black holes, extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs), and related topics in relativistic astrophysics. While my work is primarily theoretical, it aims to enhance our understanding of gravitational wave signals that will be observed by the next-generation detectors, such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and Einstein Telescope (ET).
Research Topics:
- Gravitational waves: Ripples in spacetime produced by massive objects, such as merging black holes or neutron stars, carrying information about their sources and the nature of gravity.
- EMRI, LISA: Extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs) involve a small compact object, such as a neutron star or black hole, gradually spiraling into a supermassive black hole due to the emission of gravitational waves. Such systems are one of the key targets for the upcoming space-based gravitational wave detector LISA.
- Quasinormal modes and environmental effects: Whenever an object falls into a black hole or two black holes merge, the black hole „rings", emitting gravitational waves characterized by damped harmonic oscillations known as quasinormal modes (QNMs). If the black hole resides in an astrophysical environment, such as an accretion disc, the quasinormal mode frequencies encode information about both the black hole and its surroundings. With the new generation of gravitational wave detectors, it may become possible to observe these subtle environmental imprints, providing new insights into the environments of black holes.