Gravitational Waves | In 1916, Albert Einstein proposed for the first time the existence of gravitational waves. Now they have been proven. A gravitational wave is a fluctuation in the space-time curve propagating as a wave. Gravitational radiation occurs when gravitational forces are emitted from an object or system of objects that gravitate.

About 100 years ago, Albert Einstein emulates the hypothesis that there is gravity in the universe that runs from one end to the other. Until recently, scientists have been unable to demonstrate the theory of the well-known physicist, but recently, a team of American researchers has announced that it may have obtained the first evidence confirming the presence of such waves. Today announced the evidence: gravitational waves exist.

Gravitational waves have indeed been detected. Two black holes collide by transmitting gravitational waves. ‘ ‘ We’ve detected the gravitational waves. We have succeeded,” David Reitze, executive director of LIGO, announced at the beginning of the press conference. The gravitational wave signal was first confirmed on September 14, 2015, in Louisiana, by the two instruments of the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory / https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/ ) observer, each measuring four kilometres.

The discovery confirms ‘exactly’ what Einstein predicted in 1916 about two black holes colliding. “What’s interesting is what’s next,” David Reitze said, comparing this discovery to the moment Galileo used the telescope for the first time. The team of researchers found that the two black holes were 29 and 36 times larger than the Sun, and were about 1.3 billion light-years away from Earth when they had merged. Detection of gravitational waves is evidence that there may be black holes in binary systems. Each black hole was about 150 km in diameter. Each contained 30 solar masses and was accelerated to about half the speed of light when they collided. “It’s amazing,” Reitze added.

Being at a distance of 1.3 billion years from Earth means that these black holes collided 1.3 billion years ago. The gravitational waves traversed the space for 1.3 billion years. When they arrived on Earth on September 12, 2015, they determined LIGO systems move 1/1000 of the width of a proton particle. ‘ LIGO detected them. Amazing, “said David Reitze. The moment of impact, according to scientists, lasted 20 milliseconds. “The gravitational waves could be even more revolutionary than the telescope because they are different from the bright sources,” said astrophysicist David Shoemaker, responsible for Ligo, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He believes that gravitational waves can help explain the formation of galaxies. A very useful way to explain this is to stretch a rubber membrane in the air, fixed on pillars. If we place a heavy object, a ball of a bow, for example on this membrane, we notice that the ball generates a recess. If we put on the membrane and a billiard ball, lighter, we will notice it will be drawn to the depth formed by the harder ball – and it will “fall” towards it.

The sun generates the same kind of distortion over the space-time, and our planet “falls” towards the Sun, being sustained at the orbital distance of the recess formed by its own weight in the cosmic texture. Although analogy with the rubber membrane is not exactly an exact one, it can help us to imagine how the gravitational relationships between large cosmic objects work and show us to imagine cosmic space as a “dynamic substance,” not as a vacuum.

Any object that moves through this space-time “substance” generates where or waves around it. Waves created by less massive bodies disappear relatively sooner. Only supermassive cosmic objects, such as black holes or neutron stars, can generate such waves strong enough to be observed with Earth detection systems.

Why the discovery of Gravitational Waves is important

The discovery that confirms the existence of gravitational waves opens us a new way to observe the universe. For example, the gravitational waves generated by the Big Bang explosion will provide us with new information on how to form the universe. Such extraordinarily powerful waves are also formed when two black holes collide, when stars explode in supernovae, or when massive neutron stars are pulsating.
Thus, detecting these places can provide us with new information about the objects and cosmic events that produce them.

Gravitational waves can also help physicists explain the fundamental laws governing the Universe. They are a fundamental part of the General Theory of Relativity, and their discovery can prove this theory and identify its weak points, which can thus be eliminated or corrected – an important step towards that unitary theory that reconciles classical physics, quantum physics. The concrete evidence of the existence of gravitational waves would open a new era for disciplines such as physics or astronomy. “Considering that gravitational waves do not interact directly with matter (unlike electromagnetic radiation, for example), they propagate through unspoilt Universe and give us an overview of the whole cosmos,” according to the LIGO team.

Such waves “should convey unaltered information about their origin, unlike electromagnetic radiation that is distorted over the millions of light-years it travels through space.” There are many reasons why the discovery has exacerbated the world of physics and astrophysics. First, this was the last great prediction of the general theory of relativity that still needed to be confirmed. Second, the discovery of these should be more significant in practice than the discovery of radio waves or X-rays.

References:

1. https://www.ligo.caltech.edu
2. https://www.theguardian.com/
3. https://www.nasa.gov
4. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/gravitational-waves/en/