Welcome Massimiliano Riva Postdoctoral Associate

Welcome to Massimiliano Riva who comes to us from Columbia University as a postdoctoral associate working in the particle theory group, primarily with Walter Goldberger.

Riva comments on his research, “My research uses effective field theory to understand gravitational dynamics at different scales, with particular focus on gravitational-wave physics. I exploit worldline EFT methods, together with post-Minkowskian and post-Newtonian techniques, to compute relativistic two-body dynamics and radiation at high precision. I am also particularly interested in how short-distance physics and the internal structure of compact objects are encoded in Wilson coefficients of the far-zone EFT, and how they imprint themselves on gravitational-wave observables.”

Riva continues, “Recent work includes nonlinear tidal response, radiation reaction and gravitational-wave memory, and the completion of compact-binary dynamics through 5PN order. This 5PN result provides an important benchmark for current gravitational-wave detectors and a foundation for pushing precision calculations to higher orders.”

Riva concludes, My research is at the interface of quantum field theory, effective field theory, and gravitational physics. I focus on compact-binary dynamics and gravitational-wave physics, using effective field theory methods to study relativistic gravitational interactions, radiation, and finite-size effects. At Yale, I will work primarily with Walter Goldberger, developing EFT methods to connect short-distance physics with precision observables in gravitational-wave systems.”

Riva studied Physics at the University of Milano-Bicocca before moving to Paris for his Ph.D. at Université Paris-Saclay, which he completed in 2022 under the supervision of Filippo Vernizzi. He then spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher at DESY in Hamburg, followed by two years as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Columbia University.