Both sisters began their doctoral studies in March 2021 during the challenging COVID-19 pandemic and submitted their theses exactly four years later.
Interview Radboud Recharge: How these Spanish twins defended their PhDs cum laude on the same day: "We are an enormous support for each other" | Radboud Recharge
Twin Success: Identical Sisters Defend PhD Theses Four Hours Apart
In a remarkable academic achievement, identical twin sisters Patricia and Ariadna Ribes Metidieri successfully defended their PhD theses cum laude on June 24, 2025, just four hours apart—a fitting parallel to their birth three minutes apart.
Patricia Ribes Metidieri explored the fascinating realm of quantum entanglement in curved spacetimes, addressing fundamental questions about how entanglement is distributed in space, its behavior in our expanding universe, and its fate near black holes. Her interdisciplinary research brought together cutting-edge techniques from quantum field theory on curved spacetimes, quantum information theory, functional analysis, and numerical computation. Under the supervision of Dr. Béatrice Bonga, with Prof. R. Loll serving as official promotor, Patricia also collaborated closely with Ivan Agullo at Louisiana State University.
Ariadna Ribes Metidieri delved into the complex world of black hole horizons, working within the quasi-local horizon framework to advance our understanding of these cosmic phenomena. Her research included finding quasi-normal modes on black hole horizons and achieving the first explicit construction of the black hole tomography program—a nice milestone. Under the joint supervision of Dr. Badri Krishnan and Dr. Béatrice Bonga, Ariadna's work pushes the boundaries of our understanding of black hole physics.
IMAPP congratulates both new doctors on their outstanding contributions to their respective fields and wishes them continued success in their future endeavors at the University of York (Patricia) and the Niels Bohr Institute (Ariadna)!
Contact information
- Contact
- A.G.M. Groenen-van Eldijk (Ardi) , G.M.H. Verberk-van Haren (Gertie) , Dr B.P. Bonga (Béatrice)
- Organizational unit
- High Energy Physics