Dr Matthew Pearce, School of Physics and Astronomy

Thesis title: Aspects of particle cosmology through the lens of gravitational waves

Matthew completed his PhD under Professor Csaba Balazs, exploring how gravitational waves can reveal the early universe and uncover high-energy phenomena beyond Earth’s reach. His thesis shows how new forces and particles may leave detectable imprints in gravitational wave signals. As one of the first in the field, Matthew presents testable predictions for the Pati-Salam Grand Unified Model using data from LIGO. His work offers a deeper understanding of nature and opens new directions in theoretical physics.