Gravitational waves identify what could be a rare one-in-1000 event. Astronomers at Cardiff University have identified a strange twisting motion in the orbits of two colliding black holes. This exotic phenomenon is predicted by Einstein’s theory of gravity. Their study reports that this is the fir
LIGO, which stands for “Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory,” is the world’s largest gravitational wave observatory. It is a marvel of precision engineering, comprised of two enormous laser interferometers located 3000 kilometers apart. LIGO exploits the physical properties of light and of space itself to detect and understand the origins of gravitational waves.
“We’ve always thought that binary black holes can do this,” said Professor Mark Hannam of Cardiff University’s Gravity Exploration Institute. “We have been hoping to spot an example ever since the first gravitational wave detections. We had to wait for five years and over 80 separate detections, but finally we have one!”
Dr. Jonathan Thompson, also of Cardiff University, explained: “It’s a very tricky effect to identify. Gravitational waves are extremely weak and to detect them requires the most sensitive measurement apparatus in history. The precession is an even weaker effect buried inside the already weak signal, so we had to do a careful analysis to uncover it.”
“So far most black holes we’ve found with gravitational waves have been spinning fairly slowly,” said Dr. Charlie Hoy, a researcher at Cardiff University during this study, and now at the. “The larger black hole in this binary, which was about 40 times more massive than the Sun, was spinning almost as fast as physically possible. Our current models of how binaries form suggest this one was extremely rare, maybe a one-in-a-thousand event. Or it could be a sign that our models need to change.
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