I'm originally from Bilbao. I got both my BSc (in June 1990) and my PhD (in November 1995) in Physics from the University of the Basque Country. In January 1996 I went to the University of California, Santa Barbara, for my first postdoc. Two years later, I moved to Durham University, in northern England, for a second postdoc. Near the end of 1999 I took up a junior lecturer position back in Bilbao. I took leave from there in January 2001 to move to a Fellow position at CERN (the European Lab for Particle Physics, outside Geneva). Since January 2003 I am ICREA Research Professor at the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics, Institute of Cosmos Sciences, at Universitat de Barcelona. In 2016 I was awarded an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council. In 2022 I was awarded the Medalla Monturiol and elected Fellow of the ISGRG.
Research interests
I try to understand the physical nature of space and time at the most fundamental level. Einstein taught us that gravity makes spacetime a dynamic entity. So I study gravity's classical and quantum aspects and its most basic and fascinating objects: the black holes. The natural starting point is the theory of General Relativity and the theories that naturally incorporate the ideas of quantum holographic spacetime, namely, String and M-Theory and the AdS/CFT correspondence.
Selected publications
- Emparan R & Tomasevic M 2022, 'Holography of time machines', J High Energy Phys, 3, 212.
- Emparan R & Tomasevic M 2022, 'Quantum backreaction on chronology horizons', J High Energy Phys,, 2, 182.
- Emparan R, Frassino AM, Sasieta M & Tomasevic M 2022, 'Holographic complexity of quantum black holes', J High Energy Phys, 2, 204.
- Emparan R, Licht D, Suzuki R et al. 2022, 'Black tsunamis and naked singularities in AdS', J High Energy Phys, 2, 90.
- Astorino M, Emparan R & Vigano A 2022, 'Bubbles of nothing in binary black holes and black rings, and viceversa', J High Energy Phys, 7, 007.
- Emparan R, Pedraza JF, Svesko A et al. 2022, 'Black holes in dS3', J High Energy Phys, 11, 73.
- Bernitt S, Bertone G, Cardoso V, Emparan R, et al. 2022, 'Fundamental Physics in the Gravitational-Wave Era', Nuclear Physics News, 32:1, 16-19.
Selected research activities
Plenary talks at YKIS2022, Kyoto; Eurostrings 2022, Lyon; Crossing Horizons 2022, King's Coll London; Physics Session Initiative 2022, Crete; Reconstructing the Gravitational Hologram, GGI, Florence; New frontiers in strong gravity, Benasque; Fundamental aspects of gravity, Imperial Coll London
Invited talks and colloquia at HoloTube Webinar; Ecole Polytechnique, Paris; IHP Paris; U. of Aveiro; IIT Madras; GR23, Beijing; Belgian HEP seminar
Invited lecturer at 2nd Training School of COST CA18108; Gravity@Prague 2022; LACES 2022
Dissemination: 3 outreach talks
Scientific Organizing Committee member for GR23: 23rd International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation, Beijing, July 2022; XIV CPAN Days, Bilbao, November 2022;
Guarantor of ICCUB for María de Maeztu Award
Editorial Board member of Journal of High Energy Physics, Living Reviews in Relativity, International Journal of Modern Physics D, Advances in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics
MSc thesis supervisor of Oscar Michel (U. Barcelona)
Awards: Medalla Monturiol; Fellow of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation