Karan Jani
Vanderbilt University, TN·Astronomy & Astrophysics·Early-career
Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime created when massive objects such as black holes collide. They were first detected directly in 2015.
- Fields
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Physics
Computer Science
- Topics
gravitational waves
intermediate-mass black holes
binary neutron stars
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2031
What they work on
- Establish a framework for multiband, multi-messenger observation of intermediate-mass black holes and binary neutron star mergers in the 0.1–10 Hz band that LIGO and LISA cannot reach, to guide next-generation gravitational-wave detectors.
- Develop foundational AI models trained on public LIGO data to identify intermediate-mass black hole signals that traditional data-analysis methods missed in archived observations.
- Launch modular coursework, annual workshops and mentored research pathways in gravitational waves, AI and detector technology for students at R1, R2 and HBCU institutions through the Fisk-Vanderbilt Bridge and LIGO Fellows Programs.
More about the research
Since then, almost 400 events have been reported, along with two surprises. One is black holes with masses in and above the expected supernova mass gap, roughly 60–120 times the Sun's mass. The other is that only one event has also been seen with light, showing how limited multi-messenger astronomy, observing the same event with gravitational waves and light, still is. This project aims to uncover where intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) come from and to improve multi-messenger observations of binary neutron star (BNS) mergers.
Why it matters
This work could help reveal how intermediate-mass black holes form and could extend gravitational-wave detection into a frequency band current instruments cannot reach. That would give astronomers more chances to observe neutron star mergers with both gravitational waves and light. The AI tools could also recover missed signals from existing LIGO data.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Hsin-Yu Chen
University of Texas at Austin, TX·Astronomy & Astrophysics
Quantify systematic uncertainties that electromagnetic counterpart emission from merging neutron stars introduces into standard siren measurements of the Hubble constant.
Tamara Bogdanovic
Georgia Institute of Technology, GA·Astronomy & Astrophysics
Model the time-dependent X-ray brightness and spectra expected from massive black hole binaries as they spiral toward merger while emitting gravitational waves.
Antonios Tsokaros
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL·Astronomy & Astrophysics
Develop an open-source general relativistic initial data code, based on the COCAL (Compact Object CALculator) code, that lets users set up starting conditions for magnetized neutron stars and black holes, alone or in binaries.
The school
Vanderbilt University: 22 labs on PI Pages, $1.3B a year on research, 494 research doctorates a year.
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