M. Alessandra Papa appointed Professor at Leibniz University Hannover
Leader of permanent Independent Max Planck Research Group becomes Professor for Gravitational Wave Astronomy
M. Alessandra Papa leads the permanent Max Planck Independent Research Group “Continuous Gravitational Waves“ at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) in Hannover. Now, she has been appointed Professor for Gravitational Wave Astronomy in the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Leibniz University Hannover.
”I am very happy to join the Faculty at Leibniz University. I am looking forward to a closer interaction with my colleagues there and to the opportunity to teach and establish a more direct channel with the students of Leibniz University. I hope this is an important step in strengthening gravitational physics at Leibniz University Hannover by adding more gravitational-wave astronomy to its science portfolio.“ says M. Alessandra Papa.
M. Alessandra Papa heads one of the leading research groups in the world to the detection and study of continuous gravitational waves. This yet undiscovered type of gravitational waves is expected from the galactic population of neutron stars. Neutron stars are extreme objects formed in supernova explosions. The detection of these continuous waves would allow to unveil stars that would otherwise remain invisible to us, and probe them through a messenger which would carry important information about their yet unknown internal structure and composition.
Between 2000 and 2018 M. Alessandra Papa held various positions of responsibility in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, including overall coordinaiton of the data-analysis activities for several years. She shares several awards with the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. In 2014 she was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society. Since 2018 with her group she left the LIGO Collaboration to pursue their research more freely.
M. Alessandra Papa (born 1967) studied physics at La Sapienza, University of Rome where she also obtained her PhD. She has been a postdoc at the AEI in Potsdam, at INFN in Frascati, and has held tenured positions as senior staff scientist at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and as group leader at AEI Potsdam. Since early 2018 she has established the permanent Max Planck Independent Research Group “Continuous Gravitational Waves” at the AEI in Hannover. In 2021 she was appointed Professor for Gravitational Wave Astronomy at Leibniz University Hannover.
