Dr. Luca Reali
Location Potsdam
Main Focus
My research focuses on extracting astrophysical and cosmological information from gravitational-wave data using Bayesian inference. I apply these methods to a variety of topics in gravitational-wave astronomy, with a particular focus on next-generation ground-based detectors such as Cosmic Explorer (in the US) and the Einstein Telescope (in Europe).
I build scalable frameworks to forecast the capabilities of these future observatories to constrain intermediate-mass black hole binaries, and probe their evolutionary history and host environments. I develop robust methods for the detection and characterization of stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds, of both astrophysical and cosmological origin. Alongside this, I am interested in testing general relativity with gravitational waves in the inspiral regime, both at the individual-event and population level.
Within the Cosmic Explorer collaboration, I co-lead the Cosmology Group for the Science Traceability Matrix (STM) study—a multi-year community effort evaluating how specific instrument design choices impact the observatory’s scientific yield. I also actively contribute to the Compact Binaries and Tests of General Relativity working groups.
Publications
Here' a link to my publications from INSPIRE.
Curriculum Vitae
Originally from San Bassano, Italy, I hold a Bachelor’s and Master's degrees in Physics from the University of Milan. During my Master's studies, I was awarded a High-Performance Computing (HPC) travel grant from the European Council to visit the Institute for Gravitational-Wave Astronomy at the University of Birmingham, where I worked under the supervision of Prof. Davide Gerosa.
I earned my Ph.D. in August 2026 at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (US), advised by Prof. Emanuele Berti. My thesis, "Probing the Universe with Next-Generation Gravitational-Wave Detectors: Intermediate-Mass Black Holes and Stochastic Backgrounds", was awarded the Dean's Dissertation Prize. I then joined the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) as a postdoctoral researcher in September 2026.