Dr Sam Dolan

School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Head of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics Research Cluster

Senior Lecturer of Applied Mathematics

Course Director for the MSc Mathematical and Theoretical Physics programme

s.dolan@sheffield.ac.uk
G18, Hicks Building

Full contact details

Dr Sam Dolan
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
G18
Hicks Building
Hounsfield Road
Sheffield
S3 7RH
Research interests

I am interested in the foundations and predictions of two very successful theories:

  1. Einstein's theory of General Relativity, which describes gravity, and the structure of the Universe on the largest scales - e.g. galaxies, black holes and the big bang.
  2. Quantum Field Theory (QFT), which describes the subatomic world and the weird quantum vacuum in which fundamental particles (eg. electrons, quarks, the Higgs boson, etc.) are created and destroyed.

Both theories are well-tested within their own regimes, and yet they seem to be fundamentally incompatible when brought together. This prevents us from fully understanding extreme scenarios, like the birth of the Universe, or the formation of black holes.The predictions of QFT have been tested to extraordinary precision in the laboratory. To test Einstein's theory, we must look out into the galaxy and beyond. A key prediction of the theory is the existence of Gravitational Waves: propagating ripples in spacetime created by the massive bodies in motion. There is strong indirect evidence for their existence, coming from decades-long observations of binary pulsars. But as yet there is no direct evidence, because GWs are extremely weak by the time they reach Earth. It is very plausible that the first detection will be made in 2015 by newly-upgraded detectors. If detected, gravitational waves will give us an exciting new way of viewing the Universe, which will reveal some of the most energetic processes - such as the merger of black holes - which are currently hidden from view behind shrouds of dust and plasma. With this goal in mind, my recent work has been focussed on modelling the GW signal that is generated by black hole mergers, to help in our search for the 'needle in the haystack'.

Publications

Show: Featured publications All publications

Journal articles

  • Dolan SR, Durkan L, Kavanagh C & Wardell B (2024) . Classical and Quantum Gravity, 41.
  • Dolan SR & Barack L (2012) Self-force via $m$-mode regularization and 2+1D evolution: III. Gravitational field on Schwarzschild spacetime.
  • Dolan SR & Ottewill AC (2011) . Phys.Rev., D84, 104002-104002.
  • Frost JA, Gaunt JR, Sampaio MOP, Casals M, Dolan SR & others (2009) . JHEP, 0910, 014-014.
  • Casals M, Dolan SR, Ottewill AC & Wardell B (2009) . Phys.Rev., D79, 124043-124043.
  • Dolan SR (2008) . Class.Quant.Grav., 25, 235002-235002.

All publications

Journal articles

  • Wardell B, Kavanagh C & Dolan SR (2025) . Classical and Quantum Gravity, 42(20).
  • Seenivasan AN & Dolan SR (2025) . Classical and Quantum Gravity, 42(18).
  • Dyson C, Spieksma TFM, Brito R, van de Meent M & Dolan S (2025) . Physical Review Letters, 134(21).
  • Dolan SR, Durkan L, Kavanagh C & Wardell B (2024) . Classical and Quantum Gravity, 41.
  • Dolan SR, de Paula MAA, Leite LCS & Crispino LCB (2024) . Physical Review D, 109(12).
  • de Paula MAA, Leite LCS, Dolan SR & Crispino LCB (2024) . Physical Review D, 109(6).
  • German EJ, Cunningham K, Balakumar V, Warburton N & Dolan SR (2024) . Physical Review D, 109(4).
  • Torres T, Lloyd M, Dolan SR & Weinfurtner S (2022) . Physical Review Research, 4(3).
  • Hadj MOE & Dolan SR (2022) . Physical Review D (particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology), 106(4).
  • Torres T & Dolan SR (2022) . Physical Review D, 106(2).
  • Dolan SR, Kavanagh C & Wardell B (2022) . Physical Review Letters, 128(15).
  • Percival J & Dolan SR (2020) . Physical Review D, 102(10).
  • Akcay S, Dolan SR, Kavanagh C, Moxon J, Warburton N & Wardell B (2020) . Physical Review D, 102(6).
  • Stratton T, Leite LCS, Dolan SR & Crispino LCB (2020) . Physical Review D, 102(4).
  • Crispino LCB, Dolan SR, Font JA, Herdeiro CAR & Higuchi A (2020) . International Journal of Modern Physics D, 29(11).
  • Barausse E, Berti E, Hertog T, Hughes SA, Jetzer P, Pani P, Sotiriou TP, Tamanini N, Witek H, Yagi K , Yunes N et al (2020) . General Relativity and Gravitation, 52(8).
  • Ould El Hadj M, Stratton T & Dolan SR (2020) . Physical Review D, 101(10).
  • Leite LCS, Dolan SR & Crispino LCB (2019) . Physical Review D, 100(8).
  • Dolan SR (2019) . Physical Review D, 100(4).
  • Stratton T & Dolan SR (2019) . Physical Review D, 100(2).
  • Maggio E, Cardoso V, Dolan SR & Pani P (2019) . Physical Review D, 99.
  • Torres T, Coutant A, Dolan S & Weinfurtner S (2018) . Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 857, 291-311.
  • Macedo CFB, Stratton T, Dolan S & Crispino LCB (2018) . Physical Review D, 98.
  • Dolan SR (2018) . Physical Review D, 98(10).
  • Daza , Shipley JO, Dolan SR & Sanju獺n MAF (2018) . Physical Review D, 98.
  • Dolan SR (2018) . International Journal of Modern Physics D, 27(11).
  • Leite LCS, Dolan S & Crispino CB (2018) . Physical Review D, D98.
  • Crispino LCB, Dolan SR, Fewster CJ, Matsas GEA & Vanzella DAT (2018) . International Journal of Modern Physics D, 27(11), 1802004-1802004.
  • Leite LCS, Dolan SR & Crispino LCB (2017) . Physics Letters B, 774, 130-134.
  • Dolan S (2017) . Physics, 10, 83-83.
  • Dolan S & Stratton T (2017) . Physical Review D , 95.
  • Akcay S, Dempsey D & Dolan SR (2017) . Classical and Quantum Gravity, 34(8).
  • Benone CL, de Oliveira ES, Dolan SR & Crispino LCB (2017) . Physical Review D, 95(4).
  • Dolan SR & Shipley JO (2016) . Physical Review D , 94.
  • Leite LCS, Crispino LCB, de Oliveira ES, Macedo CFB & Dolan SR (2016) . International Journal of Modern Physics D, 25(09).
  • Dempsey D & Dolan SR (2016) . International Journal of Modern Physics D, 25(9).
  • Shipley J & Dolan SR (2016) . Classical and Quantum Gravity, 33(17), 175001-175001.
  • Ponglertsakul S, Winstanley E & Dolan SR (2016) . Physical Review D, 94, 024031.
  • Nolan P, Kavanagh C, Dolan SR, Ottewill AC, Warburton N & Wardell B (2015) . Physical Review D (PRD), 92(12).
  • Dolan SR, Ponglertsakul S & Winstanley E (2015) . Physical Review D (PRD), 92(12).
  • Crispino LCB, Dolan SR, Higuchi A & De Oliveira ES (2015) . Physical Review D , 92.
  • Dolan SR & Dempsey D (2015) . Classical and Quantum Gravity, 32(18).
  • Dolan SR, Nolan P, Ottewill AC, Warburton N & Wardell B (2015) . Physical Review D, 91(2).
  • Isoyama S, Barack L, Dolan SR, Le Tiec A, Nakano H, Shah AG, Tanaka T & Warburton N (2014) . Physical Review Letters, 113(16), ---.
  • Crispino LCB, Dolan SR, Higuchi A & De Oliveira ES (2014) . Physical Review D (PRD), 90(6).
  • Benone CL, De Oliveira ES, Dolan SR & Crispino LC (2014) . Physical Review D Particles Fields Gravitation and Cosmology, 89(10).
  • Wardell B, Galley CR, Zenginoglu A, Casals M, Dolan SR & others (2014) . Phys.Rev., D89, 084021-084021.
  • Dolan SR, Warburton N, Harte AI, Le Tiec A, Wardell B & Barack L (2014) . Physical Review D Particles Fields Gravitation and Cosmology, 89(6).
  • Macedo CFB, Leite LCS, Oliveira ES, Dolan SR & Crispino LCB (2013) . Physical Review D Particles Fields Gravitation and Cosmology, 88(6).
  • Casals M, Dolan S, Ottewill AC & Wardell B (2013) . Physical Review D Particles Fields Gravitation and Cosmology, 88(4).
  • Dolan SR (2013) . Phys.Rev., D87, 124026-124026.
  • Dolan SR & Oliveira ES (2012) Scattering by a draining bathtub vortex.
  • Dolan SR & Barack L (2012) Self-force via $m$-mode regularization and 2+1D evolution: III. Gravitational field on Schwarzschild spacetime.
  • Casals M, Dolan SR, Nolan BC, Ottewill AC & Winstanley E (2012) Kermions: quantization of fermions on Kerr space-time. Phys.Rev.D, 87, 064027.
  • Rosa JG & Dolan SR (2012) . Phys.Rev., D85, 044043-044043.
  • Dolan SR, Oliveira LA & Crispino LCB (2012) . Phys.Rev., D85, 044031-044031.
  • Dolan SR & Ottewill AC (2011) . Phys.Rev., D84, 104002-104002.
  • Dolan SR, Barack L & Wardell B (2011) . Phys.Rev., D84, 084001-084001.
  • Dolan SR, Oliveira ES & Crispino LCB (2011) . Phys.Lett., B701, 485-489-485-489.
  • Dolan SR & Barack L (2011) . Phys.Rev., D83, 024019-024019.
  • Dolan SR (2010) . Phys.Rev., D82, 104003-104003.
  • Dolan SR, Oliveira LA & Crispino LCB (2010) . Phys.Rev., D82, 084037-084037.
  • Oliveira ES, Dolan SR & Crispino LCB (2010) . Phys.Rev., D81, 124013-124013.
  • Dolan SR & Ottewill AC (2009) . Class.Quant.Grav., 26, 225003-225003.
  • Frost JA, Gaunt JR, Sampaio MOP, Casals M, Dolan SR & others (2009) . JHEP, 0910, 014-014.
  • Casals M, Dolan SR, Kanti P & Winstanley E (2009) . Phys.Lett., B680, 365-370-365-370.
  • Dolan S & Gair J (2009) . Class.Quant.Grav., 26, 175020-175020.
  • Casals M, Dolan SR, Ottewill AC & Wardell B (2009) . Phys.Rev., D79, 124043-124043.
  • Casals M, Dolan S, Ottewill AC & Wardell B (2009) . Phys.Rev., D79, 124044-124044.
  • Crispino LCB, Dolan SR & Oliveira ES (2009) . Phys.Rev.Lett., 102, 231103-231103.
  • Crispino LCB, Dolan SR & Oliveira ES (2009) . Phys.Rev., D79, 064022-064022.
  • Dolan SR, Oliveira ES & Crispino LCB (2009) . Phys.Rev., D79, 064014-064014.
  • Dolan SR (2008) . Class.Quant.Grav., 25, 235002-235002.
  • Casals M, Dolan SR, Kanti P & Winstanley E (2008) . JHEP, 0806, 071-071.
  • Dolan SR (2008) Polarization of Long-Wavelength Gravitational Waves by Rotating Black Holes.
  • Dolan SR (2008) . Phys.Rev., D77, 044004-044004.
  • Dolan SR (2007) . Phys.Rev., D76, 084001-084001.
  • Casals M, Dolan S, Kanti P & Winstanley E (2007) Brane decay of a ( 4+n)-dimensional rotating black hole. III: spin-1/2 particles. J HIGH ENERGY PHYS(3).
  • Dolan S, Doran C & Lasenby A (2006) . Phys.Rev., D74, 064005-064005.
  • Lasenby A, Doran C, Pritchard J, Caceres A & Dolan S (2005) . Phys.Rev., D72, 105014-105014.
  • Doran C, Lasenby A, Dolan S & Hinder I (2005) . Phys.Rev., D71, 124020-124020.
  • Afshordi N, Ak癟ay S, Seoane PA, Antonelli A, Aurrekoetxea JC, Barack L, Barausse E, Benkel R, Bernard L, Bernuzzi S , Berti E et al () . Living Reviews in Relativity, 28(1).
  • Benone CL, Leite LCS, Crispino LCB & Dolan SR () . International Journal of Modern Physics D, 27(11).
  • Dolan SR & Ottewill AC () . Physical Review D, 84(10).

Conference proceedings

  • Benone CL, de Oliveira ES, Crispino LCB & Dolan SR (2017) . The Fourteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting (pp 3822-3827)
  • OLIVEIRA ES, CRISPINO LCB & DOLAN SR (2015) . The Thirteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting (pp 1222-1224)
  • OLIVEIRA LA, CRISPINO LCB & DOLAN SR (2015) . The Thirteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting (pp 1216-1218)
  • CRISPINO LCB, OLIVEIRA ES, DOLAN SR & MATSAS GEA (2012) . The Twelfth Marcel Grossmann Meeting (pp 2365-2367)
  • Casals M, Dolan S, Ottewill AC & Wardell B (2010) (pp 844-847-844-847)
  • Mount S, Gaura E, Newman RM, Beresford AR, Dolan SR & Allen M (2005) . Proceedings of the 2005 joint conference on Smart objects and ambient intelligence: innovative context-aware services: usages and technologies (pp 235-239)

Preprints

  • Seenivasan AN & Dolan SR (2025) Self-force and the Schwarzschild star.
  • Dyson C, Spieksma TFM, Brito R, Meent MVD & Dolan S (2025) Environmental effects in extreme mass ratio inspirals: perturbations to the environment in Kerr.
  • Wardell B, Kavanagh C & Dolan SR (2024) Sourced metric perturbations of Kerr spacetime in Lorenz gauge.
  • Dolan SR, Paula MAAD, Leite LCS & Crispino LCB (2024) Superradiant instability of a charged regular black hole.
  • German EJ, Cunningham K, Balakumar V, Warburton N & Dolan SR (2023) Adiabatic inspirals under electromagnetic radiation reaction on Kerr spacetime.
  • Dolan SR, Durkan L, Kavanagh C & Wardell B (2023) Metric perturbations of Kerr spacetime in Lorenz gauge: Circular equatorial orbits.
  • Dolan SR (2018) Higher-order geometrical optics for electromagnetic waves on a curved spacetime.
Research group

Grants

Current grants, as Coinvestigator
STFC Consortium: Fundamental Physics - Lancaster-Manchester-Sheffield STFC

Past grants, as Principal Investigator
EPSRC

Past grants, as Coinvestigator
STFC Consolidated Grant Renewal STFC
Teaching activities
MAS116 Mathematical Investigation Skills
MAS314 Introduction to Relativity
MAS61009 Research Skills in Mathematics

Links