International Consortium thousand scientists detected gravitational waves for the first time in history and directly. Its existence was enunciated by the German physicist a century ago.
1300 million years ago, two black holes, one with mass 36 times that of the Sun and the other 29 times to our star-collided in a split second and merged into one.
the equivalent of three times the Sun’s mass is lost in energy emitted by the collision process who freed detected gravitational waves for the first time in history, on 14 September in the United States. (See also: Five data to understand what are the gravitational waves)
Like when a stone is thrown on water, this forms small waves as they move away they lose strength. So happened with gravitational waves caused by the shock, which after traveling 1,300 million years, at the speed of light , came to Earth so weak that just were perceived by two huge interferometers Ligo -in Spanish Observatory for Gravitational Wave Interferometry Laser-working at full power. They are the most sophisticated detectors that humanity has produced to date.
“They use laser beams have to pass a very complex process to get the necessary power and consistency. It bounces the four mirrors, two form each of the interferometer arms Largo- -miden 4 kilometers of which are in two US locations separated by 3,000 kilometers away, “said the Argentine professor Mario Diaz, director of center and Gravitational Wave Astronomy at the University of Texas, Rio Grande area, and who was part of the team of more than 1,000 researchers from 20 countries achieved this scientific achievement.
the laser beam bounces he added thousands of times within the cavity between two mirrors on each arm and is what is called resonance. This increases the laser power and to measure with high precision the changes distance between the two mirrors.
“The disturbance is extremely small and therefore this technology is needed. The wonderful thing is that you were able to develop a capable of measuring it “said the Argentine.
I teach Einstein gravity is the effect of the curvature spacetime as a result of the presence of mass and energy. Colombian Juan Rafael Martinez astrophysicist explained Thursday at the time that the Earth revolves around the sun, not because there is an invisible force that keeps it in orbit, but because the great mass of the sun curves space around it, and our planet just It moves freely in the curved space.
gravitational waves are an extreme manifestation of this interaction between matter and space and generate any celestial body, only highly events energy , such as the collision of two black holes or early universe just after the Big Bang, released so they can get to be detected with sophisticated instruments like Ligo. (See also: So where gravitational wave observatory detected works)
On Thursday, scientists at Ligo confirmed the detection of gravitational waves, a post that science was waiting for a century, when Albert Einstein predicted in the theory of general relativity. “This detection will be in the books as the answer, one hundred years later, the last question of the Theory of Relativity,” said spokeswoman Ligo project, Argentina’s Gabriela Gonzalez.
the news cooled rumors that flooded the social networks for months and achieved a consensus among the scientific community that this achievement opens a new window in the study of the universe.
“Therefore it is very exciting for everyone, we now know the universe a little more, we know that there are black holes collide and form larger ones,” added González
. and is the detection of gravitational waves did not come alone. he also confirmed that these holes form binary systems , which will probably collide and are losing energy
the importance of this is such that the director of the Max Planck Institute of Physics in Hannover (Germany), Karsten Danzmann, said” has potential Nobel “.
But like all great advances in science, this opens a path that can be longer than the longer route. “We have taken months to see that they were really gravitational waves. But what is really exciting is what comes after, we opened a new window on the universe,” said the executive director of Ligo, David Reitze.
on this road will not be alone, because during these years not only Ligo has been chasing the waves and there are several ongoing projects, including one from the European Space Agency (ESA). “ is fantastic news for all those studying gravity and general relativity. We send our warmest congratulations to our colleagues in Ligo for its spectacular result ” Paul McNamara, Lisa Pathfinder project of noted the ESA. This will test the technology basis of possible future missions to observe gravitational waves from space and is expected to become operational in March.
Now, Americans will detectors join one of Virgo, in Italy, until a power ten times higher than it was in 2010. “with three detectors operating simultaneously, and analyzing data from all three at the same time, the signals will be more easy to find and distinguish the noise, because it must be the same in all three, will triangulate, “said Gonzalez.
for the Colombian astrophysicist Santiago Vargas, the challenge now is to continue to hunt for more gravitational waves produced by many more bodies in the universe, as individual black holes, supernova explosions and over-the antiguas- primordial gravitational waves generated by the Big Bang.
Nicolas Gutierrez Congote
Editor TIME
with information from AFP and EFE
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