Pierluigi Fortini

Post-Newtonian Lagrangian planetary equations

We present a method to study the time variation of the orbital parameters of a Post-Keplerian binary system undergoing a generic external perturbation. The method is the relativistic extension of the planetary Lagrangian equations. The theory only assumes the smallness of the external perturbation while relativistic effects are already included in the unperturbed problem. This is the major advantage of this novel approach over classical Lagrangian methods.

Status report and near future prospects for the gravitational wave detector AURIGA

We describe the experimental efforts to set up the second AURIGA run. Thanks to the upgraded capacitive readout, fully characterized and optimized in a dedicated facility, we predict an improvement in the detector sensitivity and bandwidth by at least one order of magnitude. In the second run, AURIGA will also benefit from newly designed cryogenic mechanical suspensions and the upgraded data acquisition and data analysis.

Lagrangian planetary equations in Schwarzschild spacetime

We have developed a method to study the effects of a perturbation to the motion of a test pointlike object in a Schwarzschild spacetime. Such a method is the extension of the Lagrangian planetary equations of classical celestial mechanics into the framework of the full theory of general relativity. The method provides a natural approach to account for relativistic effects in the unperturbed problem in an exact way.

The Stochastic gravitational background from inflationary phase transitions

We consider true vacuum bubbles generated in a first order phase transition occurring during the slow rolling era of a two field inflation: it is known that gravitational waves are produced by the collision of such bubbles. We find that the epoch of the phase transition strongly affects the characteristic peak frequency of the gravitational waves, causing an observationally interesting redshift in addition to the post-inflationary expansion. In particular it is found that a phase transition occurring typically 10

First joint gravitational wave search by the AURIGA-EXPLORER-NAUTILUS-Virgo Collaboration

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IGEC2: A 17-month search for gravitational wave bursts in 2005-2007

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Status report of the gravitational wave detector AURIGA

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Quadrupole effects on the motion of extended bodies in Schwarzschild spacetime

foldings before the reheating at

INITIAL OPERATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL GRAVITATIONAL EVENT COLLABORATION

kT\simeq 10^{15}

On the linearization of Maxwell equations in the field of a weak gravitational wave

GeV may be detected by the next Ligo gravity waves interferometers. Moreover, for recently proposed models capable of generating the observed large scale voids as remnants of the primordial bubbles (for which the characteristic wave lengths are several tens of Mpc), it is found that the level of anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background provides a deep insight upon the physical parameters of the effective Lagrangian.