Albert Einstein theoretically predicted the existence of gravitational waves, as part of his theory of general relativity in 1916.
A phenomenon that Einstein predicted more than 100 years ago, and which was first observed in 2015, now sets a new record.
It is about gravitational waves, ripples in the tissue of the space time that occur when two hypermassive objects, such as black holes, collide violently.
A recent investigation of the LIGO observatories, in the United States; Virgo, in Italy, and KAGRA in Japan, in which hundreds of scientists participated, claim to have detected the greater number of gravitational waves till the date.
This finding may help solve some of the most complex puzzles in the universe, including the fundamental components of matter and the functioning of space and time.
“This is really a new era for the detection of gravitational waves, “said Susan Scott, a researcher at the Center for Gravitational Astrophysics at the Australian National University and one of the study’s authors, in a statement.
“It is a breakthrough in our quest to discover the secrets of the evolution of the universe”Said the expert.
The publication with the results of the observations is still under review, but with this announcement, the “future of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration is very promising“As Eduard Larrañaga, theoretical physicist and professor at the National Observatory of Colombia, who was not involved in the investigation, told BBC Mundo.
A tsunami of gravitational waves
The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaborative work detected 35 new gravitational waves between November 2019 and March 2020.
This quantity is more than 10 times the number of gravitational waves that LIGO-Virgo had detected in their first round of observations, which occurred over four months between 2015 and 2016
It is “a tsunami” dice Scott.
Of the 35 waves detected, 32 are the result of collisions between pairs of black holes that merge, and three correspond to collisions between neutron stars and black holes.
These monumental clashes occurred mostly at billions of light years, generating waves through space-time.
With this finding, they are already 90 gravitational waves that have been detected between 2015 and 2020.
What are gravitational waves
When cosmic objects move or collide, they create a ripple in the fabric of space-time, which spreads like a wave through the world. pond water. This phenomenon is called a gravitational wave.
Gravitational waves stretch spacetime in one direction and compress it in the other.
Albert Einstein theoretically predicted the existence of gravitational waves, as part of his general relativity theory in 1916.
Einstein calculated that upon reaching Earth these waves would be as weak that could never be detected.
In 2015, however, the first detection of a gravitational wave was achieved.
Gravitational waves allow us to have a broader view of the universe, because it does not limit the observations to objects that emit light or give off particles, but rather allows detecting objects from the disturbance they generate in space-time.
Diversity
This new catalog of gravitational waves is key to understanding the nature of black holes and the evolution of the stars.
“We are only now beginning to appreciate the wonderful diversity of black holes and neutron stars,” Christopher Berry, an astronomer at the University of Glasgow’s Institute for Gravitational Research, said in a statement.
The observations, for example, showed that the gravitational waves were the result of the fusion of black rays that together achieved a mass more than a hundred times that of the Sun, while others were less than 20 times greater.
Scott, for his part, argues that observing the mass and the spin of the pairs of black holes that merge, allows us to see how these arise. binary systems.
Sensitivity
The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA record was made possible by the advance in science and technology in the detection of gravitational waves.
Gravitational wave detectors work by high power lasers that measure with high precision the time it takes for light to travel between two L-shaped arms.
When a gravitational wave hits Earth, it compresses spacetime in one direction and stretches it in the other, causing it to become disturbed. the tour of lasers.
Detectors such as LIGO (Laser Interferometry Gravitational Wave Observatory) are capable of detecting these disturbances that occur at subatomic scales.
Since 2015, these instruments have become more sensitive, allowing more waves to be detected.
According to Scott, increasing the sensitivity of the detectors over time will make it possible to identify new sources of gravitational waves, some of which will be unexpected.
One such source could be, for example, the gravitational radiation generated by itself Big Bang.
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