A team of gravitational wave researchers led by the ARC Center of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) report that when two black holes collide and merge, the remnant black hole “chirps” not once, but multiple times, emitting gravitational waves—intense ripples in the fabric space and time—that reveal information about its shape. Their study has been published in Communications Physics. Source:…
Tag: gravitational wave
Physicists develop a method to improve gravitational wave detector sensitivity
Gravitational wave detectors have opened a new window to the universe by measuring the ripples in spacetime produced by colliding black holes and neutron stars, but they are ultimately limited by quantum fluctuations induced by light reflecting off of mirrors. LSU Ph.D. physics alumnus Jonathan Cripe and his team of LSU researchers have conducted a new experiment with scientists from Caltech…
Proposal for observatory to detect gravitational waves
Researchers could detect more mergers of black holes and neutron stars with plans for a new flagship gravitational wave observatory in Europe moving a step closer. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-09-observatory-gravitational.html…
Detecting colliding supermassive black holes: The search continues
In a new study, researchers have developed an innovative method to detect colliding supermassive black holes. The study has just been published in the Astrophysical Journal and was led by postdoctoral researcher Xingjiang Zhu from the ARC Center of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) at Monash University. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-09-colliding-supermassive-black-holes.html…
Gravitational wave detectors have found their biggest black hole yet
Gravitational wave observatories LIGO and Virgo have spotted their biggest black hole yet at 142 times the mass of the sun, the first hard proof that black holes this size exist Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2253391-gravitational-wave-detectors-have-found-their-biggest-black-hole-yet/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Continuous gravitational waves in X-ray star systems—the search continues
Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time that come in many forms. So far, short-duration gravitational wave signals have been observed from colliding black holes and colliding neutron stars, but scientists expect to find other kinds of gravitational waves. Recently published research led by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav)studied continuous waves: long-lasting gravitational waves, in this particular…
To find giant black holes, start with our solar system’s center
A new study from researchers at Vanderbilt University suggests that to find the most massive black holes, measure the effects of their gravitational waves on the flashes of light coming from pulsars. The best location to do that is at the precise gravitational center of the solar system. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/black-holes-gravitational-waves-pulsars-solar-system…
For the 1st time, a visible light explosion from a black hole merger
In recent years, black hole mergers in our universe have been detected via ripples in spacetime known as gravitational waves. Now, for the first time, astronomers believe they’ve observed visible light from a black hole merger, in a peculiar 3-black-hole system. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/1st-time-visible-light-explosion-black-hole-merger…
What happens before a star explodes and dies: New research on ‘pre-supernova’ neutrinos.
A recent study on pre-supernova neutrinos—tiny cosmic particles that are extremely hard to detect—has brought scientists one step closer to understanding what happens to stars before they explode and die. The study, co-authored by postdoctoral researcher Ryosuke Hirai from the ARC Center of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) at Monash University investigated stellar evolution models to test uncertain predictions. Source:…
Gravitational Waves Reveal Lightest Black Hole Ever Observed
sciencehabit shares a report from Science Magazine: Gravitational wave detectors have spotted a cosmic collision in which a giant black hole swallowed up a mystery object seemingly too heavy to be a neutron star, but too light to be a black hole. Weighing in at 2.6 times the mass of the Sun, the object falls into a hypothetical “mass gap,” a…