![Ben Patterson](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/5771?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Mr Ben Patterson
(he/him)
Teams and roles for Ben Patterson
PhD Student
Research student
Overview
I am a first year PhD student supervised by Professor Stephen Fairhurst and Dr Fabio Antonini. My work primarily focuses on parameter estimation of eccentric binary black hole mergers by decomposing eccentric gravitational wave signals into eccentric harmonics. We can use these to gain a better physical understanding of eccentricity, provide rapid estimations of the eccentricity in a system, and probe the degeneracy between eccentricity and precession.
Publication
2025
- Al-Shammari, S. et al. 2025. GW231123: A binary black hole merger with total mass 190–265 M⊙. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 993(1), article number: L25. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae0c9c)
- Al-Shammari, S. et al. 2025. GW241011 and GW241110: Exploring binary formation and fundamental physics with asymmetric, high-spin black hole coalescences. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 993, article number: L21. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae0d54)
- Amarasinghege, O. et al. 2025. GW250114: Testing Hawking’s area law and the Kerr nature of black holes. Physical Review Letters 135, article number: 111403. (10.1103/kw5g-d732)
- Patterson, B. G., Tomson, S. M. and Fairhurst, S. 2025. Identifying eccentricity in binary black hole mergers using a harmonic decomposition of the gravitational waveform. Physical Review D (particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology) 111(4), article number: 44073. (10.1103/physrevd.111.044073)
2023
- Finch, E. et al. 2023. Identifying LISA verification binaries among the Galactic population of double white dwarfs. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 522(4), pp. 5358-5373. (10.1093/mnras/stad1288)
Articles
- Al-Shammari, S. et al. 2025. GW231123: A binary black hole merger with total mass 190–265 M⊙. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 993(1), article number: L25. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae0c9c)
- Al-Shammari, S. et al. 2025. GW241011 and GW241110: Exploring binary formation and fundamental physics with asymmetric, high-spin black hole coalescences. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 993, article number: L21. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae0d54)
- Amarasinghege, O. et al. 2025. GW250114: Testing Hawking’s area law and the Kerr nature of black holes. Physical Review Letters 135, article number: 111403. (10.1103/kw5g-d732)
- Patterson, B. G., Tomson, S. M. and Fairhurst, S. 2025. Identifying eccentricity in binary black hole mergers using a harmonic decomposition of the gravitational waveform. Physical Review D (particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology) 111(4), article number: 44073. (10.1103/physrevd.111.044073)
- Finch, E. et al. 2023. Identifying LISA verification binaries among the Galactic population of double white dwarfs. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 522(4), pp. 5358-5373. (10.1093/mnras/stad1288)
Research
Interests: gravitational waves, eccentricity, parameter estimation, binary black holes, general relativity, Bayesian analysis.
My work primarily focuses on parameter estimation of eccentric binary black hole mergers by decomposing eccentric gravitational wave signals into eccentric harmonics. We can use these to gain a better physical understanding of eccentricity, provide rapid estimations of the eccentricity in a system, and probe the degeneracy between eccentricity and precession.
Biography
- PhD in the Gravity Exploration Institute at Cardiff University, 2023 - present
- MSci in Physics and Astrophysics at University of Birmingham, 2019-2023
Contact Details
Research themes
Specialisms
- General relativity and gravitational waves
- Astrophysics