I am a CNRS (permanent) researcher working at the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur in Nice, France. I split my time between the astronomy department (Laboratoire Lagrange) and the gravitational waves group (Laboratoire Artémis). My research mainly focuses on the extreme physics of (massive) binary stars. Currently, I mostly work on gravitational wave astrophysics as a member of the LIGO/Virgo collaboration and the LISA Consortium. My main focus is to try to understand how stars form and evolve to become the gravitational wave sources we (will) observe. More globally, I am enthusiastic about all the new opportunities offered by gravitational wave detections and how it can increase our global understanding of our Universe.
As a member of the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA collaboration, I led the publication announcing the detections of the first neutron-star black hole mergers. I am now actively involved in the LISA Consortium. LISA will be a space-based gravitational wave detector, which will open a new range of GW detections. Observing with LISA will be like observing in the infrared for the first time, we will observe many new phenomena.
Since my PhD thesis, I have tried to understand how binary stars evolve, emit their energetic radiation and how they influence their surroundings. I consider the entire lifecycle of massive stars from colliding stellar winds the final stages of stellar evolution to the relativistic outflows when a compact object is present/forming and final merger of the remnant compact objects leading to gravitational wave emission. As you can see from my Projects, I have worked on “astronomical” range of distances, from the close surroundings of fast-rotating pulsars to the cosmological impact of supermassive black holes. While base most of my work on numerical simulations and analytic estimates, I cultivate a close connection with observational data. I develop and work with several tools to model the multi wavelength/multimessenger emission of the systems I model. I enjoy working on various topics and combine different fields to perform innovative research.
Astrid Lamberts 