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Astrophysicists trying to detect the presence of low-frequency gravitational waves are on to something, and it could be one of the greatest discoveries in human history.
By collaboration from one side of the Earth to the other, a signal has emerged in data from a project that uses the rhythm of the movement of stars to detect these truly gargantuan intergalactic waves, and scientists believe it could be the proof of gravitational wave. background, a discovery more consistent than anything in recent history.
The researchers, from the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav), are cautious, knowing that the macro and micro aspects of their data could mislead them.
Their work involved the constant monitoring of 45 pulsars over a 12-year period. Pulsars are very dense stars that spin at incredibly fast speeds, generating a continuous flow of light, radiation, and even sound.
As they try to measure one of the universe’s greatest forces, pulsars are working to expand scientists’ monitoring equipment to large swathes of the Milky Way galaxy, rather than just a simple Colorado laboratory.
Their recent article found that the continuous rotation of pulsars seemed to be interrupted for a few nanoseconds in a way that was replicated on each of the 45 stars, exactly the kind of effect low-frequency gravitational waves traveling the universe would have . .
“It’s incredibly exciting to see such a strong signal emerge from the data,” said Joseph Simon of the University of Colorado, who led the paper. “However, since the gravitational wave signal we are looking for covers the entire duration of our observations, we need to carefully understand our noise.
“This leaves us in a very interesting place, where we can strongly rule out some known noise sources, but we cannot yet say whether the signal is indeed from gravitational waves. For this we will need more data. “
The universal
When in 2015, researchers working at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected evidence of a single gravitational wave, a ripple in the tissue of spacetime caused by the collision of two holes black, he won the Nobel Prize in physics.
The wave detected by their laser array was equivalent to a snare kick – an event lasting a few seconds, after which silence reigned again.
In contrast, the NANOGrav project in the United States and Canada attempts to measure gravitational waves which take months or even years pass over the Earth.
These waves would be generated by a theoretical force known as the gravitational wave background (GWB), the equivalent of the low, continuous hum of voices in a cafeteria or party, generated by millions of cataclysmic events saturating the world. universe of undulations in space-time. .
Like many discoveries, especially those related to subatomic particles or dark matter, the method of observation involves the effect, not the actual object. Therefore, the sensitivity of the detection method must be exquisite, since the object is invisible and so slow and massive that it requires millions of light years of detection space and decades of unblinking concentration. to see its effect on the cosmic environment.
Therefore, NANOGrav plans to add more pulsars to its observations through collaboration with the International Pulsar Timing Array, and to study them for even more time.
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“The next few years are going to be really exciting for NANOGrav as we put together the next dataset and research it for gravitational waves,” said Sarah Vigeland, assistant professor of physics at Uni. from Wisconsin to its college press.
Implications of the gravitational wave background
As universal as the force of the tides here on Earth, everything about our understanding of the universe should align with the GWB.
Its power is generated by the most cataclysmic events that exist, such as a collision or fusion between two supermassive black holes, objects billions of times the size of the sun, and which are theoretically at the center of many galaxies.
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“These tantalizing early clues from a gravitational wave background suggest that supermassive black holes are likely merging, and we are floating in a sea of gravitational waves rippling from mergers of supermassive black holes in galaxies across the universe.” said Julie Comerford, associate professor of astrophysical and planetary science at CU Boulder and a member of the NANOGrav team.
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The power of the GWB would open up whole new fields of study, especially those related to the enigmatic supermassive black holes, and one day if we were to become a space people, the GWB would, like many other forces of nature that participate in trips to Earth. , factor of space travel since the power of low frequency waves can modify the position of planets, stars and even galaxies.
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