PPGCosmo Highlights

Since its creation in 2016, PPGCosmo has established itself as a center of excellence in research and education, promoting significant scientific achievements by its students and faculty. The faculty includes CNPq research fellows (levels 1 and 2), researchers listed among the Top 2% Scientists in the World, and affiliated members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC). This document presents these achievements in chronological order. Last updated: 13/08/2025.

2025

• The work of a faculty member who used the gravitational lensing effect to measure the mass of the black hole at the center of the Cosmic Horseshoe galaxy was featured in an article in the journal Science.

• An alumnus and a faculty member published in Physical Review Letters an article presenting a new method to understand the effect of nonlinear structures in cosmology. This work was highlighted by the Brazilian Physical Society (SBF).

• Two faculty members are currently serving as editors of the special issue of the journal Universe, in celebration of its 10th anniversary.

• A faculty member published an article in Physical Review Letters on a new technique to measure the spatial curvature of the Universe in a more robust and model-independent way, in collaboration with researchers from Italy and Germany. This work was highlighted by the Brazilian Physical Society (SBF).

• A faculty member published an article in Physical Review Letters on the recent results of the CONNIE experiment, which aims to test physics beyond the standard model. The new, more stringent low-energy limits for models with fractional charge were made possible by the 2021 upgrade, which involved the installation of new-generation CCDs with substantial contribution from CBPF.

• A student received a FAPES scholarship to carry out an academic visit to Aix-Marseille Université, France.

• A student received a FAPES scholarship to carry out an academic visit to the ELI Beamlines Laboratory, Czechia.

• A student received a FAPES scholarship to carry out an academic visit to the University of Oviedo, Spain.

• A student received a scholarship from the University of Science and Technology of China for an academic visit.

• A student received a FAPES scholarship to carry out an academic visit to the Astronomical Observatory of Trieste, Italy.

• A student received a FAPES scholarship to carry out an academic visit to CBPF.

2023

• Research by a faculty member, published in ApJ, identified a new class of astrophysical sources with characteristics between novae and supernovae, potentially detectable by LSST; the work was featured by the SBF and by INPE, and had international impact.

• A faculty member received the Anselmo Salles Paschoa Award from the Brazilian Physical Society for outstanding scientific contributions.

• A PhD student received the ICTP-SAIFR Prize for Classical Gravity and Applications 2023 for the best doctoral thesis. The same student also received honorable mentions in the CAPES Thesis Award and the José Leite Lopes Award for Best Doctoral Thesis, winning the latter.

• Another PhD student received an honorable mention in the ICTP-SAIFR Prize.

• A student received a FAPES scholarship for an academic visit to the Federal University of Ouro Preto, MG.

2022

• A faculty member published an innovative work on black holes in Physical Review Letters: SBF announcement.

• Two faculty members were part of the winning team of an international challenge on automated detection of gravitational arcs, with results described in an article published in the journal MNRAS.

• A faculty member served as editor of Multiphase Flow Dynamics: A Perspective from the Brazilian Academy and Industry, published by Springer.

• Two faculty members served as editors of the Special Issue Challenges of This Century in High-Density Compact Objects, High-Energy Astrophysics, and Multi-Messenger Observations. Quo Vadis? in the journal Galaxies, commemorating 55 years since the discovery of the first pulsar, with contributions from renowned national and international researchers.

• A former student of PPGCosmo was awarded the Newton International Fellowship at the University of Oxford, UK.

• A former student of PPGCosmo was awarded the Humboldt Research Fellowship at the University of Potsdam, Germany.

2021

• A doctoral thesis received an honorable mention in the ICTP-SAIFR Prize.

• A faculty member published the book Introduction to Quantum Field Theory with Applications to Quantum Gravity with Oxford University Press.

• A student was appointed spokesperson of the Brazilian Participation Group in LSST.

• A faculty member published the article Spinning Black Holes Fall in Love in Physical Review Letters, selected as Editors' Suggestion and highlighted in Physics.

• Two faculty members published the book Gravitação with Editora Livraria da Física.

2020

• The program launched the inaugural issue of the journal Cadernos de Astronomia.

• A faculty member published the article Ethnic and Regional Variations in Hospital Mortality from COVID-19 in Brazil in The Lancet Global Health.

• A faculty member published the book Hamiltonian Formulation of General Relativity and Applications with Editora Livraria da Física.

• A faculty member received the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship for a sabbatical period at the Astronomical Observatory of Trieste.

2019

• A faculty member published the article Static Two-Body Potential at Fifth Post-Newtonian Order in Physical Review Letters.

• A faculty member published the book A Primer in Tensor Analysis and Relativity with Springer.

• A faculty member became PI of the Brazilian Participation Group in LSST.

• A student received a scholarship from APS/SBF for an academic visit to the University of California, USA.

• A student received a DAAD scholarship for an academic visit to Heidelberg University, Germany.

2018

• Two faculty members published the article Absence of a Fundamental Acceleration Scale in Galaxies in Nature Astronomy.

• A faculty member was awarded the Humboldt Fellowship to work at Heidelberg University.

• A faculty member published the book Lecture Notes in Cosmology with Springer.

• A faculty member became coordinator of the Large Scale Structure science group of the J-PAS collaboration.

• A student received a scholarship from APS/SBF for an academic visit to Carnegie Mellon University, USA.

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2017

• A faculty member published the article Quantum Backreaction on Three-Dimensional Black Holes and Naked Singularities in Physical Review Letters, featured in Physics.