Gravity Waves  

100 years after Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves, the National Science Foundation gathers scientists from Caltech, MIT and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration to update the scientific community on efforts to detect them.

The National Science Foundation is scheduling a major announcement in a few days with scientists from Caltech, MIT and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration to update the scientific community on efforts to detect gravity waves.

Physicist Lawrence Krauss caused a stir last month when he was among the first to Tweet the findings:

My earlier rumor about LIGO has been confirmed by independent sources. Stay tuned! Gravitational waves may have been discovered!! Exciting.

— Lawrence M. Krauss (@LKrauss1) January 11, 2016

Journalists are now being invited to join the National Science Foundation as it brings together the scientists from Caltech, MIT and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) this Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at the National Press Club for a status report on the effort to detect gravitational waves - or ripples in the fabric of spacetime - using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO).

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This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first publication of Albert Einstein's prediction of the existence of gravitational waves.  In Einstein's theory, space and time are aspects of a single measurable reality called space-time. Matter and energy are two expressions of a single material. You can think of space-time as a fabric; The presence of large amounts of mass or energy distorts space-time – in essence causing the fabric to "warp" – and we observe this warpage as gravity.

Freely falling objects – whether billiard balls, satellites, or beams of starlight – simply follow the most direct path in this curved space-time.

When large masses move suddenly, some of this space-time curvature ripples outward, spreading in much the way as ripples on the surface of an agitated pond. When two dense objects such as neutron stars or black holes orbit each other, space-time is stirred by their motion and  gravitational energy ripples throughout the universe.

With interest in this topic piqued by the centennial of Einstein's work, the group will discuss their ongoing efforts to observe gravitational waves. LIGO, a system of two identical detectors carefully constructed to detect incredibly tiny vibrations from passing gravitational waves, was conceived and built by MIT and Caltech researchers.

Proof of gravitational waves is an important step for science, and could help lead to a Theory of Everything—the harmonization of Relativity and quantum physics.

SOURCE  LIGO

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Physics  

Rumors are swirling that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory experiment has actually observed gravitational waves predicted by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity over 100 years ago for the very first time and may be close to formally announcing the findings.

A major cosmological experiment designed to hunt for gravitational waves—ripples in the fabric of spacetime first predicted by Albert Einstein—has observed them directly for the very first time and may be close to formally announcing the findings. If confirmed, this would be one of the most significant physics discoveries of the last century. While no official announcement has been made, physicist Lawrence Krauss has posted a few Tweets that amount to a scientific spilling of the beans.

According to Einstein's general theory of relativity, gravity is how mass deforms the shape of space: near any massive body, the fabric of space becomes curved. But this curving does not always stay near the massive body. In particular, Einstein realized that the deformation can propagate throughout the Universe, just as seismic waves propagate in Earth's crust. Unlike seismic waves, however, gravitational waves can travel in empty space — and they do so at the speed of light.

My earlier rumor about LIGO has been confirmed by independent sources. Stay tuned! Gravitational waves may have been discovered!! Exciting.

— Lawrence M. Krauss (@LKrauss1) January 11, 2016

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The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has been hunting for gravitational waves since 2002 with no luck. But a more powerful, advanced LIGO that's about three times more sensitive than the original detector started operating in just last fall.

"Gravitational waves may have been discovered!! Exciting."

LIGO is designed to open the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics through the direct detection of gravitational waves. The multi-kilometer-scale gravitational wave detectors use laser interferometry to measure the minute ripples in space-time caused by passing gravitational waves.

These phenomena could have been created from cataclysmic cosmic sources like the merging of pairs of neutron stars or black holes, or by supernovae. LIGO consists of two widely separated interferometers within the United States—one in Hanford, Washington and the other in Livingston, Louisiana—operated in unison.

The confirmed discovery of gravity waves would further support the theory of inflation — the idea that in the first few moments the universe existed, it underwent a rapid and incredibly massive expansion. That kind of rapid expansion would almost certainly leave behind ripples through spacetime and imprinting the cosmic background radiation.

The most important thing about this discovery, if proven, is that it could be a way to link up quantum and classical physics—a step to a Theory of Everything for physics.

SOURCE  Tech Insider Video Source: Nature

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