Gravitational waves

LIGO Gravitational Wave Observatory in the US, credit: caltech

LIGO gravitational wave detectors are about to undergo an upgrade

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Scientists have developed an innovative optical system designed to improve the sensitivity of the LIGO detector, the American gravitational wave detector that was a partner, along with the European Virgo, in the initial detection of gravitational waves and in many subsequent discoveries.
Schematic overview of a wide orbiting binary system within the Milky Way. As it moves through the galaxy, the ellipticity of its orbit changes due to the gravitational influence of the galaxy and encounters with nearby stars, leading to close encounters (small image). Credit: Jakob Stegmann et al 2024 ApJL 972 L19

The role of galactic gravity in black hole collisions: a groundbreaking study

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New research shows how the host galaxy's gravity affects distant pairs of stars, bringing the black holes into extreme and rare collisions accompanied by powerful gravitational waves
This image from the ALMA telescope shows the star system HD101584 and the complex gas clouds surrounding the binary pair. The clouds are the result of two stars that shared a common outer layer in the last moments of their lives. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Olofsson et al., : Robert Cumming.

Dead and Alive: Astronomers Reveal Star Pairs That Are Changing Our Universe

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Astronomers have discovered for the first time pairs of binary star systems, consisting of the remnant of a dead star (a white dwarf) and a living star (a main sequence star), within young clusters
This figure shows a stage in the merger of two galaxies that creates a single galaxy with two supermassive black holes at the center and surrounded by disks of hot gas. The black holes orbit each other for hundreds of millions of years as they merge to form a single supermassive black hole that sends out powerful gravitational waves. Credit: NASA/CXC/A.Hobart

Gravitational waves hint that the universe still has secrets

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New research sheds light on the origin of low-frequency ripples in space-time
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

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

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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
The coalescence and merger of a black hole from the bottom of the mass gap (surface in dark gray) with a neutron star with colors ranging from dark blue (60 g/cm600) to white (XNUMX kg/cmXNUMX) emphasize the strong deformations of the low-density material of the neutron star Credit: I. Markin (Potsdam University), T. Dietrich (Potsdam University and Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics), H. Pfeiffer, A. Buonanno (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics)

Gravitational waves reveal hidden interactions in space

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The analysis of the signal GW230529 picked up by LIGO shows that it originated from the merger of two compact objects, one with a mass between 1.2 and 2.0 times that of the Sun and the other with a mass slightly more than twice the first
This figure shows how CSOs are probably formed. When one massive star gets too close to a black hole (left), it is devoured. This causes the black hole to emit a very fast dipole jet (center). The jet extends outward and its hot edges glow with radio wave emissions (right). Credit: B. Saxton/NRAO/AUI/NSF

Cosmic Mysteries Revealed: The Short and Brilliant Lives of Compressed Compact Objects

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The CSOs emit jets for 5,000 years or less and then die out. "The CSO jets are very energetic jets but they seem to end, the jets stop flowing from the source
Artist's rendering of the heaviest pair of supermassive black holes: Using archival data from the Gemini North Telescope, a team of astronomers has measured the heaviest pair of supermassive black holes ever found. The merger of two supermassive black holes is a long-predicted but never-observed phenomenon. This pair provides insight into why such an event seems so unlikely in the universe. Credit: NOIR LAB

Astronomers have measured the heaviest pair of black holes ever found

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Data from the Gemini North Telescope provide a possible explanation for the halting of the merger of a pair of supermassive black holes at the center of a galaxy
The LISA mission will be the first space-based observatory dedicated to detecting ripples in the fabric of space-time. Credit: ESA

Capturing the Ripples of Space-Time: The LISA Mission to Study Gravitational Waves

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The European Space Agency gets the green light for the first space observatory of its kind, dedicated to revealing space-time vibrations.
Artist's impression of the different layers inside a massive neutron star, with the red circle representing a large quark-matter core. Credit Jyrki Hokkanen, CSC

More evidence for quarks at the centers of massive neutron stars

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A new theoretical analysis puts the probability that massive neutron stars harbor non-configurational quark nuclei between 80 and 90 percent. The result was achieved through massive computer runs using Bayesian statistical inference.
An artist's rendering of a collection of pulsars detecting gravitational waves from pairs of orbiting supermassive black holes. Credit: Aurore Simonnet for the NANOGrav Collaboration

Proof that the Earth is surrounded by a sea of ​​slow gravitational waves

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"The effect of gravitational waves on pulsars is very weak and difficult to detect, but we built the credibility of the findings over time as we collected more data," said Caterina Cazziano, NANOGrav team member and senior lecturer at Caltech.
Impressively, a pair of supermassive black holes (top left) emit gravitational waves that propagate through the fabric of space-time. These gravitational waves compress and stretch the trajectories of radio waves that emit pulsars (in white). By carefully measuring the radio waves, a team of scientists recently discovered for the first time the gravitational wave background of the universe. Credit: Aurore Simonnet for the NANOGrav Collaboration

Noisier than expected: Gravitational waves from supermassive black hole mergers "heard" for the first time

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NANOGrav Discovers Stronger Gravitational Waves Than Ever, Apparently Created by Pairs of Supermassive Black Holes
Gravitational waves. Illustration: depositphotos.com

An innovation in gravitational wave detectors could help decipher cosmic secrets

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A significant development in thin layer technology could possibly improve the sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors.
Gravitational waves are created by a pair of stars turning into black holes. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Gravitational waves light up the universe

Gravitational wave analysis hints at the way black hole pairs are formed
An artist's impression of two black holes about to collide and merge Image: depositphotos.com

Astrophysicists predict the strength of gravitational waves from merging supermassive black holes

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A team of researchers from Australia recently made a new prediction about the strength of this gravitational wave signal. The new estimate is based on data from the MassiveBlack-II imager, which simulates a massive region of space that resembles a dissecting
It is a complex picture of X-rays, molecular gas and hot ionized gas near the center of the galaxy. The orange shapes are glowing hydrogen gas. One of these shapes, at the upper end of the jet (see an illuminated image below) is interpreted as a hydrogen cloud that was hit by the jet and moved outward. The jet disperses the cloud into tendrils that move towards the north. Further down near the black hole are X-ray observations of highly heated gas in blue and molecular gas in green. These data are evidence that the black hole is occasionally accreted by stars or gas clouds, and is ejecting some of the very hot material along its axis of rotation. Credit: NASA, ESA, and Gerald Cecil (UNC-Chapel Hill); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

The Milky Way's supermassive black hole is still humming long after a burst of powerful 'death rays'

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The Hubble Space Telescope photographed a bright knot of gas hit by an invisible jet from the black hole, which is only 15 light years away. The black hole must have looked bright billions of years ago as a quasar
A black hole swallows its companion star. Illustration: shutterstock

Two gravitational wave events within 10 days: black holes have been discovered that eat neutron stars - "like Pac-Man"

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The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the US and the Virago Gravitational Wave Observatory in Italy captured the gravitational waves from the death spiral and merger of a neutron star with a black hole, and not once but

A breakthrough for an alternative model for dark matter

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Researchers from Prague published in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters an alternative model for dark matter based on MOND that succeeds in predicting the existence of the cosmic background radiation. This is a significant achievement that the MOND model failed
A neutron star just before merging with the black hole. Image: Carl Knox OzGrav/Swinburne University of Technology

Astronomers discovered a merger of a black hole and a neutron star, then another just ten days later

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A rare event that occurred in January 2020 still fascinates scientists, who are trying to learn about the structure of the neutron star with its help
Simulation of a gravitational wave event. Illustration: MIT-LIGO

The most massive gravitational waves ever

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A binary black hole merger probably created gravitational waves equal to the energy of eight suns * "Bang" in the Ligo and Virgo detectors is a signal for the source of the most massive gravitational waves ever
Thanks to a reanalysis of the data from 2017 of the merger event, we have now detected the signature of one defined heavy element within this fireball, the element strontium, proving that a collision of neutron stars caused the creation of this element in the universe. Figure: ESO

First ever detection of a heavy element created by the collision of neutron stars

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An artist's illustration of a kilonova caused by a neutron star merger. Image: CREDIT: NAOJ

The origin of the heavy elements - in the fusion of neutron stars

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A laser beam that travels 1,600 km in a tube. LIGO detector | Photo: NASA

"With the LIGO upgrade we will be able to discover dozens of gravitational wave events per year"

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Black hole simulation. Quantum entanglement and black holes, two seemingly unrelated phenomena, may lead physicists to the long awaited unification: the unification of general relativity and quantum mechanics. Image: Ute Kraus / Wikimedia.

A brief history of black holes

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This image provides three different perspectives on the gamma ray burst GRB150101B, which is similar to the event where gravitational waves were measured and simultaneously also in the electromagnetic spectrum and there is a similarity between the two cases. In the center, an image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the galaxy where the GRB150101B burst occurred. In the top corner, two X-ray images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory show the event as it appeared on January 9, 2015 (left), and as seen about a month later, on February 10, 2015 (right), as the explosion halo fades, point The bright light is the nucleus of the galaxy.Photo: NASA/CXC

Researchers have retrospectively identified another event of gravitational waves from colliding neutron stars

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Multiple dimensions - is it possible to build an observational experiment?

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Illustration of a neutron star and black hole merging. Credit: Dana Berry/NASA

Will gravitational waves be able to shed light on the expansion rate of the universe?

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Neutron star merger - breakthrough of the year according to SCIENCE magazine

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Radio observations shed light on a neutron star collision event

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Imaging a kilonova: the merger and collision of two tiny but highly compressed neutron stars. Source: ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser.

The prediction from 1989 that came true and the rapid mobilization of astrophysicists to observe the source of gravitational waves with other detectors as well

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Simulation of the collision of two small but compact neutron stars. Such a rare event is expected to create both gravitational waves and a gamma-ray burst, both of which were observed on August 17, 2017. Source: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick.

For the first time, gravitational waves and light waves were discovered from the same event - the merger of two neutron stars

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Imaging a kilonova: the merger and collision of two tiny but highly compressed neutron stars. Source: ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser.

Observed for the first time: collision and merger of two neutron stars

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Simulation of the merger of two black holes, the existence of which was indicated by the gravitational waves recorded by LIGO in 2017. Source: The SXS (Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes) Project.

Is dark matter made of black holes?

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What is the matrix we live in? Image: pixabay.

Einstein - the man who started to take us out of the matrix (part 3): there are gravitational waves!

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The LIGO facility in Hanford, Washington. Photo: CALTECH

"The winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics were themselves surprised by the strength of the signal of the first gravitational wave event"

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From right to left: Prof. Emeritus Rainer Weiss, Ian Driver (brother of Prof. Emeritus Ronald Driver), Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie and Prof. Emeritus Kip Stefan Thorn. Photo: Nitzan Zohar, Technion Spokesperson.

From the Harvey Prize at the Technion - to the Nobel Prize in Stockholm

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Simulation of the merger of two black holes, the existence of which was indicated by the gravitational waves recorded by LIGO in 2017. Source: The SXS (Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes) Project.

Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of gravitational waves

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The Nobel Physics Prize Committee announced this morning the awarding of half of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics to Rainer Weiss, and the other half to Barry Barish and Kip Thorne, all three from the LIGO/VIRGO partnership
An artist's illustration of two merging black holes that are theorized to be the source of gravitational waves. Illustration: Bohn, Throwe, Hébert, Henriksson, Bunandar, Taylor, Scheel / SXS

A collaboration between three observatories resulted in another discovery of gravitational waves

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The 2016 Harvey Awards ceremony. Photo: Nitzan Zohar, Technion spokesperson.

The 2016 Harvey Prize was awarded for the discovery of gravitational waves and the development of optogenetics

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Illustration illustrating what two merging black holes look like similar to those detected by LIGO. The black holes rotate misaligned meaning they have different orientations relative to the general motion of the binary orbit. LIGO has found clues that the orbit of at least one black hole in the GW170104 system was previously undetected through its orbital motion before it merged with its partner. Image: LIGO/Caltech/MIT/Aurore Simonnet

A third gravitational wave event has been discovered; Confirms the existence of a new type of black holes

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The Wirgo gravitational wave detector near Pisa in Italy is supposed to return to operation in the spring of 2017, and thus it is possible that three detectors of this type will operate together, in three different places in the world, for at least a month. Source: The Virgo collaboration.

A new detector will determine the origin of gravitational waves

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The second discovery of gravitational waves in June 2016. The first ever was in February - illustration: from Wikipedia

Gravitational waves: the most important discovery of 2016 according to the editors of Science magazine

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Einstein's mistakes

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A laser beam that travels 1,600 km in a tube. LIGO detector | Photo: NASA

First evidence for the discovery of gravitational waves

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Gravitational waves emanating from the merger of two black holes. Image: NASA/JPL

Proof of Einstein's theory of general relativity: "The discovery of gravitational waves opens a new window to the universe"

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Gravitational waves. Illustration: shutterstock

Have gravitational waves been found?

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suds. Illustration: shutterstock

Genesis was empty - how was our universe created? - The fifth and last part

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In this image you see real photographs of the cosmic background radiation as it is measured in the sky (right side). Above you see the cosmic radiation as it was first detected in 1965, the image is colored and the colors indicate the temperature (or frequency) of the radiation. Notice how uniform it is in temperature (there is only one green color). Middle image - in 1992 the Kobe satellite finds tiny differences in temperature (six digits after the decimal point). In the lower image you see a similar image with better spatial resolution taken in 2003. The red band in the middle is not related to the cosmic background radiation, it is micro radiation emitted from the plane of our galaxy

Genesis was empty - how was our universe created? - Part IV

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Wilson (left) and Penzias (right) against the background of the shofar antenna they used when discovering the cosmic background radiation. Source: Wikipedia

Genesis was empty - how was our universe created? - Part III

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An approximate model of the hydrogen atom, the simplest and most common atom in the universe consisting of a proton in the center and an electron around it. All the hydrogen in the universe was created about 380,000 years after the big bang.

Genesis was empty - how was our universe created? - Part II'

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