We detected gravitational waves and what next?

We detected gravitational waves and what next?

Now we live in a universe filled with gravitational waves.

Prior to the historic statement on Thursday morning from the National Science Foundation (NSF) meeting in Washington, there were only rumors that the Laser Interferometric Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) opened up a key component of Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, but now we know that reality is deeper than we thought.

With amazing clarity, LIGO could “hear” the moment before the merging of the binary system black holes (two black holes rotating around each other) into a single whole, creating such a clear gravity-wave signal in accordance with a theoretical model that required discussion. LIGO witnessed the “rebirth” of a powerful black hole that happened about 1.3 billion years ago.

Gravitational waves have always been and always will be, passing through our planet (in fact, passing through us), but only now we know how to find them. Now we have opened our eyes to various cosmic signals, vibrations caused by known energy events, and we are witnessing the birth of a completely new field of astronomy.

The sound of two black holes merging:

“Now we can hear the Universe,” said Gabriela González, a physicist and representative of LIGO, during the triumphal meeting on Thursday. “The discovery marked the beginning of a new era: The field of gravitational astronomy is now a reality.”

Our place in the universe is changing a lot and this discovery can be fundamental, like the discovery of radio waves and the understanding that the universe is expanding.

The Theory of Relativity becomes more reasonable

Attempts to explain what gravitational waves are and why they are so important, as complex as the equations describing them, but their discovery not only strengthens Einstein’s theory of the nature of space-time, we now have a tool for sensing a part of the Universe that was invisible us. Now we can study cosmic waves created by the most energetic events occurring in the Universe, and, possibly, use gravitational waves for new physical discoveries and explore new astronomical phenomena.

“Now we have to prove that we have the technology to go further than the discovery of gravitational waves, because it opens up many opportunities,” said Lewis Lehner of the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Ontario, in an interview after the statement on Thursday.

Lener's research focuses on dense objects (such as black holes) that create powerful gravitational waves. Although he is not associated with the cooperation of LIGO, Lehner quickly realized the importance of this historical discovery. “There are no better signals,” he said.

We detected gravitational waves and what next?

The discovery is based on three ways, he reasons. First, we now know that gravitational waves exist, and we know how to detect them. Secondly, the signal detected by LIGO stations on September 14, 2015, is a strong indication of the existence of a binary system of black holes, and each black hole weighs several tens of solar masses. The signal is exactly what we expected to see as a result of the hard fusion of two black holes, one weighs 29 times the Sun and the other 36 times. Thirdly, and perhaps the most important, “the possibility of sending into a black hole” is definitely the strongest proof of the existence of black holes.

Cosmic intuition

This event was accompanied by luck, like many other scientific discoveries. LIGO is the largest project funded by the National Science Foundation, which was launched initially in 2002. It turned out that after many years of searching for the elusive signal of gravitational waves, LIGO is not sensitive enough and in 2010 the observatories froze, while international cooperation works to increase their sensitivity. Five years later, in September 2015, the “improved LIGO” was born.

At that time, Kip Thorn, co-founder of LIGO and a heavyweight in theoretical physics, was confident in the success of LIGO, saying to the BBC: “We are here. We hit the pitch big game. And it is quite clear that we will lift the veil of secrecy. ”And he was right, a few days after the reconstruction, a surge of gravitational waves rolled through our planet, and LIGO was sensitive enough to detect them.

These black hole fusions are not considered to be anything special; according to rough estimates, such events occur every 15 minutes somewhere in the Universe. But it was precisely this merger that occurred at the right place (at a distance of 1.3 billion light years) at the right time (1.3 billion years ago) to be captured by the LIGO observatories. It was a pure signal from the universe, and Einstein predicted it, and its gravitational waves turned out to be real, describing a cosmic event, 50 times more powerful than the power of all the stars in the universe combined. This huge explosion of gravitational waves was recorded by LIGO as a high-frequency signal with a linear frequency modulation, while black holes, moving in a spiral, merged into one. To confirm the propagation of gravitational waves, LIGO consists of two observation stations, one in Louisiana, the other in Washington. To eliminate false positives, the gravitational wave signal should be detected at both stations. September 14, the result was obtained first in Louisiana, and after 7 milliseconds in Washington. The signals matched, and with the help of triangulation, physicists were able to find out that they originated in the heavenly space of the Southern Hemisphere.

Gravitational waves: how can they be useful?

So, we have confirmation of the black hole fusion signal, and so what? This is a historical discovery, which is quite understandable - 100 years ago, Einstein could not even dream of finding these waves, but it still happened.

The general theory of relativity was one of the most profound scientific and philosophical perceptions of the 20th century and forms the basis of the most intelligent research in reality. In astronomy, applications of general relativity are clear: from a gravitational lens to measuring the expansion of the Universe. But the practical application of Einstein's theories is not at all clear, but most modern technologies use lessons from the theory of relativity in some things that are considered simple. For example, take global navigation satellites, they will not be accurate enough if you do not apply a simple time dilation adjustment (predicted by the theory of relativity).

It is clear that general relativity has applications in the real world, but when Einstein introduced his theory in 1916, its application was highly questionable, which seemed obvious. He simply connected the Universe, in the way he saw it, and the general theory of relativity was born. And now another component of the theory of relativity has been proven, but how can gravitational waves be used? Astrophysicists and cosmologists are definitely intrigued. “After we collected data from pairs of black holes that will play the role of lighthouses scattered around the universe,” said theoretical physicist Neil Turok, director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics on Thursday during a video presentation. “We can measure speed the expansion of the universe, or the amount of dark energy with extreme precision, is much more accurate than we can today. ”

“Einstein developed his theory with some clues of nature, but based on a logical sequence. After 100 years, you see very accurate evidence of his predictions. ”

Moreover, the September 14 event has some features of physics that still need to be investigated. For example, Lehner noted that from the analysis of a gravitational wave signal, one can measure the “rotation” or the angular momentum of a black hole. “If you have been working on theory for a long time, you should know that the black hole has a very, very special rotation,” he said.

The formation of gravitational waves with the merger of two black holes:

For some reason, the black hole's final rotation is slower than expected, indicating that the black holes collide at low speed, or they were in a collision that caused a joint angular momentum opposing each other. “It's very interesting, why did nature do it?” Said Lehner.

This recent mystery may return to some fundamentals of physics, which were not taken into account, but, more intriguingly, may reveal a “new”, unusual physics, which does not fit into the general theory of relativity. And this reveals other applications of gravitational waves: since they are created by strong gravitational phenomena, we have the opportunity to probe this medium from afar, with possible surprises on the way. In addition, we could combine observations of astrophysical phenomena with electromagnetic forces in order to understand more the structure of the Universe.

Application?

Naturally, after the huge announcements made from a complex of scientific discoveries, many people outside the scientific community are interested in how they can affect them. The depth of discovery may be lost, which, of course, applies to gravitational waves. But consider another case where Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays in 1895, during experiments with cathode ray tubes, few people know that only a few years later, these electromagnetic waves will become a key component in everyday medicine from diagnosis to treatment. Similarly, the first experimental creation of radio waves in 1887, Heinrich Hertz confirmed the well-known electromagnetic equations of James Clerk Maxwell. Only through time in the 90s of the 20th century, Guglielmo Marconi, who created a radio transmitter and a radio receiver, proved their practical application. Also, the Schrödinger equations describing the complex world of quantum dynamics are now used in the development of ultrafast quantum computing.

We detected gravitational waves and what next?

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All scientific discoveries are useful, and many, ultimately, have everyday use, which we take for granted. At present, the practical application of gravitational waves is limited to astrophysics and cosmology - now we have a window in the “dark Universe”, which is not visible to electromagnetic radiation. No doubt, scientists and engineers will find another use for these cosmic pulsations, in addition to sensing the Universe. However, to detect these waves, there must be good progress in optical technology in LIGO, in which new technologies will appear over time. Of course, the detection of gravitational waves - the triumph of humanity, which will help to explore our Universe for future generations. This is definitely a golden age for science, in which historical discoveries have become commonplace. And we have the intellectual potential to create a model of the Universe, and to experimentally prove our case.

But for me the most exciting thing is to see the first gravitational maps of space, where periodic humming of neutron stars, and impulsive eruptions of supernovae are plotted, opening a new Universe full of cosmic waves.

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