Personal profile
Summary
I'm a cosmologist, working with both gravitational waves and electromagnetic observations to probe the fundamental laws of our universe. Much of my research centres around testing the laws of gravity that govern the largest cosmological scales, as a route to understanding the apparent dark sectors of our universe (dark energy, potentially dark matter).
Research Interests
Here are some of the key focus areas of my current research program:
- Development of bright and dark gravitational wave sirens methods. These are two of leading methods we can extract cosmological parameters and test large-scale gravitational laws with gravitational waves.
- Novel techniques to complete galaxy catalogues. Galaxy surveys are a key ingredient of the dark sirens technique mentioned above, but they miss lots of faint galaxies. Reconstructing these `invisible' galaxies allows us to maximise the cosmology we can do with gravitational wave detections.
- Cosmological simulations in theories of gravity beyond GR. Simulations are essential for modelling the smaller (nonlinear) scales of the cosmic web. However, these simulations are only available in General Relativity and a handful of other well-studied models. My group is developing a new, flexible simulation code called Hi-COLA which can evolve the universe under a much broader set of gravity models.
- Gravitational wave astronomy is still a relatively new field. I'm particularly interested in understanding how to best combine these new observations with `traditional' electromagnetic surveys. Since the two kinds of data contain complementary information, we can maximise our cosmological results by jointly inferring constraints from both sets simultaneously.
I carry out some of the above research in collaboration with major telescopes and gravitational wave facilities. I am a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, LISA, the Vera Rubin Observatory and Euclid.
Keywords
- QB Astronomy
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Cosmic Cartography II: completing galaxy catalogs for gravitational-wave cosmology
Leyde, K., Baker, T. & Enzi, W., 5 Jan 2026, In: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. 2026, 1, 46 p., 013.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Exploring future synergies for large-scale structure between gravitational waves and radio sources
Zazzera, S., Fonseca, J., Baker, T. & Clarkson, C., 1 Mar 2026, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 547, 1, 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
A bright future? Prospects for cosmological tests of GR with multimessenger gravitational wave events
Colangeli, E., Leyde, K. & Baker, T., 23 May 2025, In: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. 2025, 5, 32 p., 078.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile20 Downloads (Pure) -
Gravitational waves and galaxies cross-correlations: a forecast on GW biases for future detectors
Zazzera, S., Fonseca, J., Baker, T. & Clarkson, C., 4 Feb 2025, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 537, 2, p. 1912-1923 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile38 Downloads (Pure) -
GW250114: testing Hawking's area law and the Kerr nature of black holes
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration, KAGRA Collaboration, Baker, T., Davies, G. S. C., Colangeli, E., Green, S. R., Harry, I. W., Hoy, C. G., Keitel, D., Leyde, K., Lundgren, A. P., Macas, R., Noller, J., Nuttall, L. K., Tolley, A. E., Wickens, E. G. & Williams, M. J., 10 Sept 2025, In: Physical Review Letters. 135, 27 p., 111403.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure)
Projects
- 2 Active
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Testing Gravity with Hi-COLA Simulations of Large-Scale Structure
Baker, T. (PI)
1/10/23 → 31/12/26
Project: Research
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SHADE: Statistical Host Identification As a Test of Dark Energy
Baker, T. (PI), Dalang, C. (Team Member), Leyde, K. (Team Member), Colangeli, E. (Team Member), Naidoo, K. (Team Member) & Balaudo, A. (Team Member)
1/02/21 → 31/07/26
Project: Research
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GW:UK@Nottingham
Baker, T. (Invited speaker), Williams, M. (Invited speaker), Colangeli, E. (Speaker) & Hoy, C. (Participant)
15 Jan 2026 → 16 Jan 2026Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration Meeting - September 2024
Baker, T. (Speaker), Colangeli, E. (Presented paper), Leyde, K. (Presented paper) & Williams, M. (Chair)
23 Sept 2024 → 27 Sept 2024Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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Lead examiner for PhD defence of Oyvind Christiansen
Baker, T. (Examiner)
18 Sept 2024Activity: Examination and External Supervision types › Examination
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Testing Gravity with the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe
Baker, T. (Presented paper)
9 Sept 2024 → 13 Sept 2024Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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50 Years of Horndeski Gravity: Exploring Modified Gravity
Baker, T. (Presented paper)
15 Jul 2024 → 19 Jul 2024Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
Press/Media
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What If Dark Energy Comes From Space-Time Itself?
22/01/26
2 Media contributions
Press/Media: Expert comment