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Astrophysicists harness planetary power to explore the universe's greatest mysteries

Observing the universe using gravitational waves poses significant technological challenges, especially in the investigation of the frequency range above one kilohertz, the astronomers are technologically assisted in the magnetosphere of planets to detect the gravitational waves

This groundbreaking idea proposed by Prof. Liu's team allows a single astronomical telescope in the Earth's magnetosphere to function as a gravitational wave signal detector. Credit: HKUST
This groundbreaking idea proposed by Prof. Liu's team allows a single astronomical telescope in the Earth's magnetosphere to function as a gravitational wave signal detector. Credit: HKUST

Scientists have proposed a breakthrough method for detecting high-frequency gravitational waves (HFGWs). The innovative approach of the research team, led by Associate Professor Tao Liu from the Department of Physics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), may enable the successful discovery of HFGWs by using existing and technologically feasible astronomical telescopes in the planetary magnetosphere. This will open up new possibilities for studying the early universe and violent cosmic events in an efficient and technically feasible manner.

Gravitational waves are created by a variety of astronomical phenomena, such as phase transitions in the early universe and collisions of Julian black holes. But their effects are very weak and were discovered only in the field of relatively low frequencies using the interferometry method. Observing the universe using gravitational waves therefore poses significant technological challenges, especially in the investigation of the frequency range above one kilohertz, where the use of interferometry becomes very limited.

To deal with this difficulty, Prof. Tao Li and his colleague Dr. Chen Zheng collaborated with Prof. Jing Ren from the Institute of High Energy Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and achieved a significant breakthrough in their latest research. The research takes advantage of the intriguing physical phenomenon that gravitational waves in a magnetic field can be converted into electromagnetic waves that can potentially be detected. The use of the extended paths in the planetary magnetosphere increases the conversion efficiency and more AM wave signals are received. The detection capability can be further increased in telescopes with a wide field of view due to the wide angular dispersion of the signal flux within such a planetary laboratory.

This new method allows a single astronomical telescope to function as a detector of gravitational wave signals. By combining several telescopes, it is possible to obtain a wide coverage of HFGWs frequencies, from MHz to 1028 the runner This frequency range is equal to the AM spectrum used in astronomical observations and includes a large part that has never been studied before in the detection of gravitational waves. The study provides an initial sensitivity assessment for satellite-based detectors in low Earth orbit and ongoing missions in the Martian magnetosphere.

The research was published in Physical Review Letters in March and was subsequently highlighted in Nature Astronomy in an article titled "Laboratories the size of planets enable cosmological insights." The emphasis is on the importance of the research in paving the way for future studies on innovative technologies for detecting gravitational waves.

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One response

  1. And in a translation from Chinese to Hebrew that is accessible to sinners like us, what does that mean?

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