Geoffrey Lovelace

Geoffrey Lovelace is a Professor of Physics at California State University, Fullerton, where he is a member of the Department of Physics within the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. He is affiliated with the Nicholas and Lee Begovich Center for Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy (GWPAC), the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) collaboration, and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. His research focuses on numerical relativity and gravitational wave modeling, with particular interest in merging black holes with extreme spins and thermal noise in LIGO mirrors.

Lovelace's research interests center on using numerical relativity to model gravitational wave sources. He and his students use supercomputers to simulate colliding black holes using the Spectral Einstein Code (SpEC), with special focus on merging black holes that spin nearly as fast as possible and responding to LIGO observations. More recently, he has begun modeling thermal noise in LIGO mirrors to improve next-generation detector sensitivity and exploring how well gravitational-wave detectors can measure rapid black-hole spins. He also contributes to the development of SpECTRE, the SXS Collaboration's next-generation numerical-relativity code, and to Cosmic Explorer, a concept for the next gravitational-wave observatory in the United States.

Lovelace's recent publications demonstrate significant contributions to gravitational wave physics, particularly in binary black hole simulations, numerical methods for relativity, and next-generation detector development. His work spans theoretical modeling, computational techniques, and practical applications for current and future gravitational wave observatories. He leads an annual summer workshop introducing community college students to gravitational waves and high-performance computing.

Lovelace's research is supported by multiple NSF grants including EES-2332503 (CREST Center for Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy), PHY-2308985 (Identifying and Evaluating Sites for Cosmic Explorer), AST-2219109 (The CSUF-led partnership for inclusion of underrepresented groups), and PHY-2208014 (Next-Generation Numerical Relativity). Previous funding includes NSF CAREER grant PHY-1654359 and other collaborative research grants focused on gravitational wave science and education.