Professor Patrick Sutton
(he/him)

Gravity Exploration Institute

: SuttonPJ1@cardiff.ac.uk
: +44 29208 74043
: Queen's Buildings - North Building, Room N/1.09, 5 The Parade, Newport Road, Cardiff, CF24 3AA

: Available for postgraduate supervision

My research focuses on the detection and study of gravitational waves -- ripples in the fabric of spacetime. These are produced by some of the most violent events in the Universe, such as the collisions of black holes, the explosive deaths of massive stars, and perhaps the Big Bang itself. The detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO observatories has opened a new window on nature, and is allowing us to probe the behaviour of matter and test Einstein's theory of gravity under extreme conditions that cannot (and should not!) be replicated on Earth. My particular specialties are the detection and interpretation of weak signals in noisy data. I am a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, and have served on various national and international advisory committees on gravitational waves and astroparticle physics.

2011

Abadie, J. et al. 2011. Directional limits on persistent gravitational waves using LIGO S5 science data. Physical Review Letters 107(27), article number: 271102. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.271102)
Clark, J. et al. 2011. A gravitational wave observatory operating beyond the quantum shot-noise limit. Nature Physics 7, pp. 962-965. (10.1038/nphys2083)
Abadie, J. et al. 2011. Search for gravitational waves from binary black hole inspiral, merger, and ringdown. Physical Review D 83(12), article number: 122005. (10.1103/PhysRevD.83.122005)
Abadie, J. et al. 2011. Search for gravitational wave bursts from six magnetars. Astrophysical Journal Letters 734(2), article number: L35. (10.1088/2041-8205/734/2/L35)
Hild, S. et al. 2011. Sensitivity studies for third-generation gravitational wave observatories. Classical and Quantum Gravity 28(9), article number: 94013. (10.1088/0264-9381/28/9/094013)
Baret, B. et al. 2011. Bounding the time delay between high-energy neutrinos and gravitational-wave transients from gamma-ray bursts. Astroparticle Physics 35(1), pp. 1-7. (10.1016/j.astropartphys.2011.04.001)
Abadie, J. et al. 2011. Search for gravitational waves associated with the August 2006 timing glitch of the Vela pulsar. Physical Review D 83(4), article number: 42001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.83.042001)
Abadie, J. et al. 2011. Beating the spin-down limit on gravitational wave emission from the Vela pulsar. Astrophysical Journal 737(2), article number: 93. (10.1088/0004-637X/737/2/93)
Coward, D. M. et al. 2011. Towards an optimal search strategy of optical and gravitational wave emissions from binary neutron star coalescence. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 415(1), pp. L26-L30. (10.1111/j.1745-3933.2011.01072.x)
Sathyaprakash, B. S. et al. 2011. Scientific potential of Einstein Telescope. Presented at: Rencontres de Moriond, Gravitational Waves and Experimental Gravity, La Thuile, Italy, 3-10 March 2012 Presented at Auge, E., Dumarchez, J. and Tran Thanh Van, J. eds.Proceedings of the 47th Rencontres de Moriond, Gravitational Waves and Experimental Gravity, La Thuile, Italy, 3-10 March 2012. Vietnam: The Gioi Publishers

2010

Abadie, J. et al. 2010. Predictions for the rates of compact binary coalescences observable by ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. Classical and Quantum Gravity 27(17), article number: 173001. (10.1088/0264-9381/27/17/173001)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2010. Search for gravitational-wave bursts associated with gamma-ray bursts using data from LIGO science run 5 and Virgo science run 1. Astrophysical Journal 715(2), pp. 1438-1452. (10.1088/0004-637X/715/2/1438)
Sutton, P. J. et al. 2010. X-Pipeline: an analysis package for autonomous gravitational-wave burst searches. New Journal of Physics 12, article number: 53034. (10.1088/1367-2630/12/5/053034)
Sutton, P. J. et al. 2010. X-Pipeline: an analysis package for autonomous gravitational-wave burst searches. New Journal of Physics 12(5), article number: 53034. (10.1088/1367-2630/12/5/053034)
Predoi, V. et al. 2010. Prospects for joint radio telescope and gravitational-wave searches for astrophysical transients. Classical and Quantum Gravity 27(8), article number: 84018. (10.1088/0264-9381/27/8/084018)
Punturo, M. et al. 2010. The third generation of gravitational wave observatories and their science reach. Classical and Quantum Gravity 27(8), article number: 84007. (10.1088/0264-9381/27/8/084007)
Nuttall, L. and Sutton, P. J. 2010. Identifying the host galaxy of gravitational wave signals. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 82(10), article number: 102002. (10.1103/PhysRevD.82.102002)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2010. Searches for gravitational waves from known pulsars with science run 5 LIGO data. Astrophysical Journal 713(1), pp. 671-685. (10.1088/0004-637X/713/1/671)
Abadie, J. et al. 2010. All-sky search for gravitational-wave bursts in the first joint LIGO-GEO-Virgo run. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 81(10), article number: 102001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.81.102001)
Abadie, J. et al. 2010. First search for gravitational waves from the youngest known neutron star. Astrophysical Journal 722(2), pp. 1504-1513. (10.1088/0004-637X/722/2/1504)
Abadie, J. et al. 2010. Calibration of the LIGO gravitational wave detectors in the fifth science run. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 624(1), pp. 223-240. (10.1016/j.nima.2010.07.089)
Abadie, J. et al. 2010. Search for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescence in LIGO and Virgo data from S5 and VSR1. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 82(10), article number: 102001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.82.102001)
Abadie, J. et al. 2010. Search for gravitational-wave inspiral signals associated with short gamma-ray bursts during ligo's fifth and virgo's first science run. The Astrophysical Journal 715(2), pp. 1453-1461. (10.1088/0004-637X/715/2/1453)
Chassande-Mottin, E., Hendry, M., Sutton, P. J. and Márka, S. 2010. Multimessenger astronomy with the Einstein Telescope. General Relativity and Gravitation 43(2), pp. 437-464. (10.1007/s10714-010-1019-z)
Punturo, M. et al. 2010. The Einstein Telescope: a third-generation gravitational wave observatory. Classical and Quantum Gravity 27(19), article number: 194002. (10.1088/0264-9381/27/19/194002)

2009

Abbott, B. et al. 2009. Beating the spin-down limit on gravitational wave emission from the crab pulsar (2008, ApJ, 683, L45) [Erratum]. The Astrophysical Journal 706(1), pp. L203-L204. (10.1088/0004-637X/706/1/L203)
Leonor, I., Sutton, P. J., Frey, R., Jones, G., Márka, S. and Márka, Z. 2009. Estimating detection rates for the LIGO-Virgo search for gravitational-wave burst counterparts to gamma-ray bursts using inferred local GRB rates. Classical and Quantum Gravity 26(20), article number: 204017. (10.1088/0264-9381/26/20/204017)
Abbott, B. et al. 2009. First LIGO search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic (super)strings. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 80(6), article number: 62002. (10.1103/PhysRevD.80.062002)
Abbott, B. et al. 2009. Search for gravitational wave ringdowns from perturbed black holes in LIGO S4 data. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 80(6), article number: 62001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.80.062001)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2009. An upper limit on the stochastic gravitational-wave background of cosmological origin. Nature 460(7258), pp. 990-994. (10.1038/nature08278)
Abbott, B. et al. 2009. Einstein@Home search for periodic gravitational waves in early S5 LIGO data. Physical Review D 80(4), article number: 42003. (10.1103/PhysRevD.80.042003)
Searle, A. C., Sutton, P. J. and Tinto, M. 2009. Bayesian detection of unmodeled bursts of gravitational waves. Classical and Quantum Gravity 26(15), article number: 155017. (10.1088/0264-9381/26/15/155017)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2009. LIGO: the laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory. Reports on Progress in Physics 72(7), article number: 76901. (10.1088/0034-4885/72/7/076901)
Abbott, B. et al. 2009. Einstein@Home search for periodic gravitational waves in LIGO S4 data. Physical Review D 79(2), article number: 22001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.79.022001)
Abbott, B. et al. 2009. Search for gravitational waves from low mass binary coalescences in the first year of LIGO's S5 data. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 79(12), article number: 122001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.79.122001)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2009. Stacked Search for Gravitational Waves from the 2006 SGR 1900+14 Storm. Astrophysical Journal 701(2), pp. L68-L74. (10.1088/0004-637X/701/2/L68)
Abbott, B. et al. 2009. Search for high frequency gravitational-wave bursts in the first calendar year of LIGO's fifth science run. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 80(10), article number: 102002. (10.1103/PhysRevD.80.102002)
Abbott, B. et al. 2009. All-Sky LIGO Search for Periodic Gravitational Waves in the Early Fifth-Science-Run Data. Physical Review Letters 102(11), article number: 111102. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.111102)
Abbott, B. et al. 2009. Observation of a kilogram-scale oscillator near its quantum ground state. New Journal of Physics 11(7), pp. 73032. (10.1088/1367-2630/11/7/073032)
Abbott, B. et al. 2009. Einstein@Home search for periodic gravitational waves in early S5 LIGO data. Physical Review D 80(4), article number: 42003. (10.1103/PhysRevD.80.042003)
Abbott, B. P. et al. 2009. Search for gravitational waves from low mass compact binary coalescence in 186 days of LIGO's fifth science run. Physical Review D 80(4), article number: 47101. (10.1103/PhysRevD.80.047101)
Sutton, P. J. 2009. Upper limits from counting experiments with multiple pipelines. Classical and Quantum Gravity 26(24), article number: 245007. (10.1088/0264-9381/26/24/245007)
Sutton, P. J. and Shoemaker, D. 2009. Proceedings of the 2008 Numerical Relativity Data Analysis Meeting, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA, 11-14 August 2008. Classical and Quantum Gravity 26(11), article number: 110301. (10.1088/0264-9381/26/11/110301)
Abbott, B. et al. 2009. Search for gravitational-wave bursts in the first year of the fifth LIGO science run. Physical Review D 80(10), article number: 102001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.80.102001)

2008

Abbott, B. et al. 2008. Search for Gravitational-Wave Bursts from Soft Gamma Repeaters. Physical Review Letters 101(21), article number: 211102. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.211102)
Abbott, B. et al. 2008. First joint search for gravitational-wave bursts in LIGO and GEO 600 data. Classical and Quantum Gravity 25(24), article number: 245008. (10.1088/0264-9381/25/24/245008)
Abbott, B. et al. 2008. Search of S3 LIGO data for gravitational wave signals from spinning black hole and neutron star binary inspirals. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 78(4), article number: 42002. (10.1103/PhysRevD.78.042002)
Abbott, B. et al. 2008. Implications for the origin of GRB 070201 from LIGO observations. Astrophysical Journal 681(2), pp. 1419-1430. (10.1086/587954)
Abbott, B. et al. 2008. Search for gravitational waves associated with 39 gamma-ray bursts using data from the second, third, and fourth LIGO runs. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 77(6), article number: 62004. (10.1103/PhysRevD.77.062004)
Abbott, B. et al. 2008. All-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in LIGO S4 data. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 77(2), article number: 22001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.77.022001)
Baggio, L. et al. 2008. A joint search for gravitational wave bursts with AURIGA and LIGO. Classical and Quantum Gravity 25(9), article number: 95004. (10.1088/0264-9381/25/9/095004)
Abbott, B. et al. 2008. Beating the Spin-Down Limit on Gravitational Wave Emission from the Crab Pulsar. Astrophysical Journal 683(1), pp. L45., article number: L45. (10.1086/591526)
Abbott, B. et al. 2008. Astrophysically triggered searches for gravitational waves: status and prospects. Classical and Quantum Gravity 25(11), article number: 114051. (10.1088/0264-9381/25/11/114051)
Sutton, P. J. 2008. Searching for gravitational waves with LIGO. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 110(6), article number: 62024. (10.1088/1742-6596/110/6/062024)
Searle, A. C., Sutton, P. J., Tinto, M. and Woan, G. 2008. Robust Bayesian detection of unmodelled bursts. Classical and Quantum Gravity 25(11), article number: 114038. (10.1088/0264-9381/25/11/114038)

2007

Abbott, B. et al. 2007. Searches for periodic gravitational waves from unknown isolated sources and Scorpius X-1: Results from the second LIGO science run. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 76(8), article number: 82001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.76.082001)
Abbott, B. et al. 2007. Search for gravitational wave radiation associated with the pulsating tail of the SGR 1806-20 hyperflare of 27 December 2004 using LIGO. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 76(6), article number: 62003. (10.1103/PhysRevD.76.062003)
Abbott, B. et al. 2007. Searching for a stochastic background of gravitational waves with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. Astrophysical Journal 659(2), pp. 918-930. (10.1086/511329)
Abbott, B. et al. 2007. Upper limits on gravitational wave emission from 78 radio pulsars. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 76(4), article number: 42001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.76.042001)
Abbott, B. et al. 2007. Upper limit map of a background of gravitational waves. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 76(8), article number: 82003. (10.1103/PhysRevD.76.082003)
Abbott, B. et al. 2007. First cross-correlation analysis of interferometric and resonant-bar gravitational-wave data for stochastic backgrounds. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 76(2), article number: 22001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.76.022001)
Abbott, B. et al. 2007. Search for gravitational-wave bursts in LIGO data from the fourth science run. Classical and Quantum Gravity 24(22), pp. 5343-5369. (10.1088/0264-9381/24/22/002)

2006

Chatterji, S., Lazzarini, A., Stein, L., Sutton, P. J., Searle, A. and Tinto, M. 2006. Coherent Network Analysis Technique for Discriminating Gravitational-Wave Bursts from Instrumental Noise. Physical Review -Series D- 74, article number: 82005. (10.1103/PhysRevD.74.082005)
Abbott, B. et al. 2006. Search for gravitational-wave bursts in LIGO's third science run. Classical and Quantum Gravity 23(8), pp. S29. (10.1088/0264-9381/23/8/S05)
Abbott, B. et al. 2006. Joint LIGO and TAMA300 search for gravitational waves from inspiralling neutron star binaries. Physical Review D Particles and Fields 73(10), article number: 102002. (10.1103/PhysRevD.73.102002)

2005

Sutton, P. J., Barish, B. C., Kanda, N. and Saulson, P. R. 2005. Upper Limits from the LIGO and TAMA Detectors on the Rate of Gravitational-Wave Bursts. Physical Review -Series D- 72, article number: 122004. (10.1103/PhysRevD.72.122004)
Balasubramanian, R. et al. 2005. Upper Limits on a Stochastic Background of Gravitational Waves. Physical Review Letters 95(22), article number: 221101. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.221101)
Abbott, B. et al. 2005. Search for Gravitational Waves from Galactic and Extra-Galactic Binary Neutron Stars. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 72(8), article number: 82001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.72.082001)
Cadonati, L. et al. 2005. The AURIGA-LIGO joint burst search. Classical and Quantum Gravity 22(18), pp. S1337-S1347. (10.1088/0264-9381/22/18/S47)
Abbott, B. et al. 2005. Limits on gravitational-wave emission from selected pulsars using LIGO data. Physical Review Letters 94(18), article number: 181103. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.181103)
Abbott, B. et al. 2005. Search for gravitational waves associated with the gamma ray burst GRB030329 using the LIGO detectors. Physical Review D 72(4), article number: 42002. (10.1103/PhysRevD.72.042002)
Abbott, B. et al. 2005. Upper limits from the LIGO and TAMA detectors on the rate of gravitational-wave bursts. Physical Review D Particles and Fields 72(12), article number: 122004. (10.1103/PhysRevD.72.122004)

2004

Sutton, P. J. 2004. Results from LIGO's second search for gravitational-wave bursts. Presented at: Meeting of the American Physical Society, Denver, CO, 1-4 May 2004.
Sutton, P. J. et al. 2004. Plans for the LIGO-TAMA joint search for gravitational wave bursts. Classical and Quantum Gravity 21(20), pp. S1801-S1807. (10.1088/0264-9381/21/20/023)
McNabb, J. W. C. et al. 2004. Overview of the BlockNormal event trigger generator. Classical and Quantum Gravity 21(20), pp. S1705-S1710. (10.1088/0264-9381/21/20/013)
Finn, L. S., Krishnan, B. and Sutton, P. J. 2004. Swift Pointing and the association between gamma-ray bursts and gravitational wave bursts. Astrophysical Journal 607(1), pp. 384-390. (10.1086/383257)
Abbott, B. et al. 2004. Setting upper limits on the strength of periodic gravitational waves from PSR J1939+2134 using the first science data from the GEO 600 and LIGO detectors. Physical Review D 69(8), article number: 82004. (10.1103/PhysRevD.69.082004)
Abbott, B. et al. 2004. First upper limits from LIGO on gravitational wave bursts. Physical Review D 69(10), article number: 102001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.69.102001)
Abbott, B. et al. 2004. Analysis of LIGO data for gravitational waves from binary neutron stars. Physical Review D 69(12), article number: 122001. (10.1103/PhysRevD.69.122001)

2003

Sutton, P. J., Finn, L. S. and Krishnan, B. 2003. Swift pointing and gravitational-wave bursts from gamma-ray burst events. Classical and Quantum Gravity 20(17), pp. S815-S820. (10.1088/0264-9381/20/17/324)

2002

Finn, L. S. and Sutton, P. J. 2002. Bounding the mass of the graviton using binary pulsar observations. Physical Review -Series D- 65, article number: 44022. (10.1103/PhysRevD.65.044022)
Sutton, P. J. and Finn, L. S. 2002. Bounding the graviton mass with binary pulsar observations. Classical and Quantum Gravity 19(7), pp. 1355-1360. (10.1088/0264-9381/19/7/318)
Balbinot, R., Fabbri, A., Nicolini, P. and Sutton, P. J. 2002. Vacuum polarization in two-dimensional static spacetimes and dimensional reduction. Physical Review D 66(2), article number: 24014. (10.1103/PhysRevD.66.024014)

2001

Sutton, P. J., Balbinot, R., Fabbri, A. and Frolov, V. 2001. Vacuum Polarization in the Schwarzschild Spacetime and Dimensional Reduction. Physical Review -Series D- 63, article number: 84029. (10.1103/PhysRevD.63.084029)
Collins, H., Finn, S. and Sutton, P. J. 2001. What is TWAP: Three notes on the American election in the year 2000. Social Studies of Science 31(3), pp. 428-436. (10.1177/030631201031003008)
Balbinot, R., Fabbri, A., Nicolini, P., Frolov, V., Sutton, P. J. and Zelnikov, A. 2001. Vacuum polarization in the Schwarzschild spacetime and dimensional reduction. Physical Review D 63(8), article number: 84029. (10.1103/PhysRevD.63.084029)

2000

Sutton, P. J. 2000. Dimensional-reduction anomaly in spherically symmetric spacetimes. Physical Review D 62(4), article number: 44033. (10.1103/PhysRevD.62.044033)

1999

Frolov, V., Sutton, P. J. and Zelnikov, A. 1999. Dimensional-reduction anomaly. Physical Review D 61(2), article number: 24021. (10.1103/PhysRevD.61.024021)

1998

Sutton, P. J., Georgallas, A., Hunter, D. L., Jan, N., Nash, R. J. and Quinn, J. P. 1998. Evolution of hunter–gatherer strategies with a genetically inspired algorithm. International Journal of Modern Physics C 9(4), article number: 547. (10.1142/S0129183198000455)

1994

Sutton, P. J., Hunter, D. L. and Jan, N. 1994. The ground state energy of the +-J spin glass from the genetic algorithm. Journal de Physique I 4(9), pp. 1281-1285. (10.1051/jp1:1994112)
Sutton, P. J. and Boyden, S. 1994. Genetic algorithms: A general search procedure. American Journal of Physics 62(6), pp. 549. (10.1119/1.17516)

Research interests

Violent relativistic events such as the collisions of black holes or neutron stars, supernovae, and gamma-ray bursts, can produce powerful bursts of gravitational waves. A common feature of these systems is that they are difficult to model, involving complex physics of matter at nuclear densities and nonlinear general relativistic effects. Gravitational waves could provide a probe of the rich physics of these systems. As a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, I am developing strategies to detect gravitational-wave bursts, and creating techniques for locating the sources on the sky, extracting their waveforms from noisy data, and fitting them to simulations and theoretical models. In particular, I focus on the detection of gravitational waves associated with gamma-ray bursts and supernovae using data from the LIGO, GEO, and Virgo detectors.

Supervision

Current PhD students: Maxime Fays, Iain Dorrington, Ronaldas Macas, Scott Coughlin, Vassilis Skliris.

On Research Leave for 2016-17. Previous teaching duties include:
PX3241 - Particle Physics and Special Relativity (2013-16)
PX4124 - Introduction to General Relativity (2014-15)
PX3237 - Nuclear and Particle Physics (2012-13)
PX4115 - General Relativity and Relativistic Astrophysics (2007-13)

I have also served as the Teaching Quality Officer for PHYSX since 2013.

I undertook my graduate studies at the University of Alberta, studying the renormalisation of quantum field theories in curved spacetimes, and graduated in 2000. I then spent two and a half years as a postdoctoral fellow in the gravitational physics group at Penn State University, followed by a four-year stint as a senior postdoctoral fellow and then a senior research fellow at the California Institute of Technology. I joined the faculty of Cardiff University as a senior lecturer in June 2007, and was promoted to Reader in 2012 and then Personal Chair in 2016.

Honours and awards

Head, Gravitational Physics Group, Cardiff University
Chair, STFC Particle Astrophysics Advisory Panel (to 2016)
Member, Astroparticle Physics European Consortium (ApPEC) - Scientific Advisory Commitee

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of:

Gravitational Waves
signal detection techniques

Current supervision

Wasim Javed

Doctoral Student

New gravitational waves observation run to reveal more of the universe’s secrets

21 June 2023

Professor Patrick Sutton
(he/him)

2024

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2012