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Mr Ben Patterson
(he/him)
Teams and roles for Ben Patterson
Graduate Demonstrator
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
2026
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. GW240925 and GW250207: Astrophysical calibration of gravitational wave detectors. Physical Review Letters 137 071401. (10.1103/gzrj-mwv3)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. GWTC-4.0: Constraints on the Cosmic Expansion Rate and Modified Gravitational-wave Propagation. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 1007 (1) L17. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae69dd)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. Narrowband searches for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in the first two parts of the Fourth LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA observing run. The Astrophysical Journal 1005 (2) 221. (10.3847/1538-4357/ae77fc)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. GWTC-4.0: population properties of merging compact binaries. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 1005 (2) L51. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae771e)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. Constraints on gravitational waves from the 2024 Vela pulsar glitch. The Astrophysical Journal 1005 (1) 12. (10.3847/1538-4357/ae63bc)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. GWTC-4.0: Methods for identifying and characterizing gravitational-wave transients. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 1004 (2) L21. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae447b)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. GW230814: Investigation of a loud gravitational-wave signal observed with a single detector. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 1004 (2) L23. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae2ad3)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. Open Data from LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA through the First Part of the Fourth Observing Run. The Astrophysical Journal 1004 (2) 232. (10.3847/1538-4357/ae211e)
- Al-Shammari, S. et al. 2026. Searches for continuous gravitational waves from supernova remnants in the first part of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA fourth observing run. The Astrophysical Journal 1004 (2) 204. (10.3847/1538-4357/ae6263)
- Abac, A. et al., 2026. All-sky search for long-duration gravitational-wave transients in the first part of the fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing run. Physical Review D 113 (8) 082004. (10.1103/83j3-pgk1)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. Black hole spectroscopy and tests of general relativity with GW250114. Physical Review Letters 136 (4) 041403. (10.1103/6c61-fm1n)
2025
- Al-Shammari, S. et al. 2025. GWTC-4.0: An introduction to version 4.0 of the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 995 (1) L18. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae0c06)
- al-Shammari, S. et al. 2025. All-sky search for short gravitational-wave bursts in the first part of the fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing run. Physical Review D 112 102005. (10.1103/wjdz-jdby)
- Al-Shammari, S. et al. 2025. GW231123: A binary black hole merger with total mass 190–265 M⊙. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 993 (1) 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 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 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) 044073. (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
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. GW240925 and GW250207: Astrophysical calibration of gravitational wave detectors. Physical Review Letters 137 071401. (10.1103/gzrj-mwv3)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. GWTC-4.0: Constraints on the Cosmic Expansion Rate and Modified Gravitational-wave Propagation. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 1007 (1) L17. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae69dd)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. Narrowband searches for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in the first two parts of the Fourth LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA observing run. The Astrophysical Journal 1005 (2) 221. (10.3847/1538-4357/ae77fc)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. GWTC-4.0: population properties of merging compact binaries. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 1005 (2) L51. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae771e)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. Constraints on gravitational waves from the 2024 Vela pulsar glitch. The Astrophysical Journal 1005 (1) 12. (10.3847/1538-4357/ae63bc)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. GWTC-4.0: Methods for identifying and characterizing gravitational-wave transients. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 1004 (2) L21. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae447b)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. GW230814: Investigation of a loud gravitational-wave signal observed with a single detector. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 1004 (2) L23. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae2ad3)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. Open Data from LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA through the First Part of the Fourth Observing Run. The Astrophysical Journal 1004 (2) 232. (10.3847/1538-4357/ae211e)
- Al-Shammari, S. et al. 2026. Searches for continuous gravitational waves from supernova remnants in the first part of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA fourth observing run. The Astrophysical Journal 1004 (2) 204. (10.3847/1538-4357/ae6263)
- Abac, A. et al., 2026. All-sky search for long-duration gravitational-wave transients in the first part of the fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing run. Physical Review D 113 (8) 082004. (10.1103/83j3-pgk1)
- Abac, A. G. et al., 2026. Black hole spectroscopy and tests of general relativity with GW250114. Physical Review Letters 136 (4) 041403. (10.1103/6c61-fm1n)
- Al-Shammari, S. et al. 2025. GWTC-4.0: An introduction to version 4.0 of the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 995 (1) L18. (10.3847/2041-8213/ae0c06)
- al-Shammari, S. et al. 2025. All-sky search for short gravitational-wave bursts in the first part of the fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing run. Physical Review D 112 102005. (10.1103/wjdz-jdby)
- Al-Shammari, S. et al. 2025. GW231123: A binary black hole merger with total mass 190–265 M⊙. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 993 (1) 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 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 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) 044073. (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