Gravitational wave research at L2IT

The Laboratoire des 2 infinis - Toulouse (L2IT) is a research institute of IN2P3/CNRS established in 2020 with the objective to pursue fundamental research with innovative numerical and theoretical approaches. The research of the institute is focused on particle physics, gravitational waves and the nuclear equation of state, and it is supported by a complementary development of numerical computing, data analysis and data science methodologies.

The gravitational wave group at L2IT conducts research on both theoretical and experimental aspects of gravitational wave science, with a distinct focus at exploiting new ideas connecting theory with observations through data analysis and numerical simulations. The group is part of both the LISA Consortium, the Virgo Collaboration and the Einstein Telescope Consortium, and conducts cutting-edge research on gravitational waves collaborating with external groups and institutes at local, national and international levels.

Current members

The following lists the current members of the gravitational waves group at L2IT. Further information can be found on the L2IT website.

Permanent members

• Christelle Buy
• Sylvain Marsat
• Nicola Tamanini (group leader)

Permanent members contributing from other L2IT groups

• Catherine Biscarat (Computing, Algorithms and Data group)
• Mathieu Dubois (Computing, Algorithms and Data group)
• Maxime Pigou (Computing, Algorithms and Data group)
• Antsa Rasamoela (Computing, Algorithms and Data group)

Postdocs

• Gergely Dálya

PhD students

• Tom Bertheas (jointly with the LPENS Paris)
• Zheng Wu
• Rémi Delpech (jointly with the IRAP Toulouse)
• Vasco Gennari
• Manuel Piarulli
• Clèment Jacquet

Interns and students

• Irene Iorio
• Arnaud Keumurian

Associate members and current long term visitors

• Tanguy Delmond (PhD student at CNES)
• Alexander Papadopolous (PhD student at Glasgow University)

Past members

Here are the people that were part of the L2IT GW group in the past:

• Vivienne Langen (PhD student from Nov 2021 to April 2025)
• Ollie Burke (Postdoc from Sept 2022 to Dec 2024; then postdoc at Glasgow University)
• Alice Perego (M2 intern from March to July 2024; then PhD student at Observatoire de la côte d’Azur)
• Thomas Jacquot (M2 intern from March to July 2024; then PhD student at IJCLab)
• Danny Laghi (Postdoc from Jul 2021 to May 2024; then postdoc at Univ. of Zurich)
• Cayetano Santos (Softare engineer from Nov 2021 to May 2024, contributing as member of the L2IT CAD group)
• Martina Toscani (Postdoc from Nov 2021 to Oct 2023; then postdoc at Univ. of Milano Bicocca)
• Chang Liu (Visiting PhD student from Peking University, China, from Oct 2022 to Sept 2023)
• Olympe Léchine (M2 intern from Mar 2023 to Aug 2023)
• Clèment Llauro (M2 intern from Mar 2023 to Aug 2023)
• Nour Bou Zamel (L3 intern from Mar 2023 to Jun 2023)
• Niccolò Muttoni (Research assistant from Nov 2021 to Apr 2022; then PhD student at Univ. of Geneva)
• Elsa Desbarats (L3 student intern from Feb 2022 to Jun 2022)
• Rémi Delpech (M2 student intern from Feb 2022 to Jul 2022; then PhD student at IRAP)
• Stéphanie Hoang (M2 student intern from Feb 2022 to Jul 2022; then PhD student at IJCLab)

Recent work

Some of the most recent publications and pre-prints authored by members of the group:

1. V. Gennari, S. Mastrogiovanni, N. Tamanini, S. Marsat and G. Pierra, Searching for additional structure and redshift evolution in the observed binary black hole population with a parametric time-dependent mass distribution, [arXiv:2502.20445]

2. V. Langen, N. Tamanini, S. Marsat and E. Bortolas, Hierarchical Bayesian inference on an analytical model of the LISA massive black hole binary population, Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 536 (2025) n.4, 3366–3385 [doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae2694] [arXiv:2409.06527]

3. C. Liu, D. Laghi and N. Tamanini, Probing modified gravitational-wave propagation with extreme mass-ratio inspirals, Phys. Rev. D 109 (2024) no.6, 063521 [doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.109.063521] [arXiv:2310.12813]

4. M. Toscani, O. Burke, C. Liu, N. B. Zamel, N. Tamanini and F. Pozzoli, Strongly-Lensed Extreme Mass-ratio Inspirals, Phys. Rev. D 109 (2024) no.6, 063505 [doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.109.063505] [arXiv:2307.06722]

PhD theses

1. Vivienne Langen, Towards unveiling the properties of the massive black hole binary population with LISA, 04/04/2025