![]() To detect the stretching of space, researchers use laser light to compare the lengths of the two rulers on a near-constant basis. Each detector essentially consists of a pair of crossed, 4-kilometer-long rulers. LIGO relies on exquisitely sensitive twin detectors in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana. The 1000 physicists working with LIGO have twice detected such waves emanating from a pair of massive black holes spiraling into each other. ![]() Einstein also predicted that certain swirling configurations of mass would radiate gravitational waves. In 1915, Albert Einstein explained that gravity arises when massive objects such as Earth warp spacetime, bending the otherwise straight trajectories of free-falling objects. Gravitational waves literally stretch space itself. ![]() "When we optimize LIGO for detection, we also optimize it for emission" of gravitational waves, says Belinda Pang, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, who presented the analysis here last week at a meeting of the American Physical Society. Although these waves are far too feeble to detect directly, the researchers say, the radiation in principle could be used to try to detect weird quantum mechanical effects among large objects. It also happens to be the world's best producer of gravitational waves, a team of physicists now calculates. WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is not only the most sensitive detector of ripples in spacetime.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |