The ABC of gravitational waves – El Universal (Venezuela)

MADRID Albert Einstein formulated his general theory of relativity the existence of gravitational waves, a kind of waves in the Universe. But the scientific community has had to wait a hundred years to be able to agree with evidence, one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century.

To demonstrate the existence of these waves was the ultimate challenge slope of the Theory of Relativity General, Einstein formulated in 1915. the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain, one of those involved in scientific collaboration LIGO, offers on its website some answers to understand what they are and what they are, Efe reported.

What are gravitational waves?

Using a metaphor, the University defines as “waves in the cosmic ocean.” Einstein discovered the theory of relativity that the moving objects in the universe produce ripples in space-time a kind of tissue in which all the events of the Universe which is propagated in space develop. These are the gravitational waves.

What is detected if any?

Gravitational waves are “a new window on the Universe” . Thanks to them we can understand the mechanisms by which happen some of the most violent events in the cosmos, such as collisions between black holes and exploding stars. One could even consider what happened a millisecond after the Big Bang.

also mark the beginning of a new era in astronomy because the universe is almost transparent to them, which will observe astrophysical phenomena that otherwise remain hidden -the formation of black holes or how matter behaves under extreme conditions -.

But why are so important to explore the Universe

knowledge of the Cosmos is now done mainly through electromagnetic radiation (light) with them can “see” while the gravitational waves would be like to “hear” what would pass through the objects between the Earth and the other end of the universe, as the waves pass through it.

Why has it taken so long to know a fact of their existence?

for decades this new type of waves was almost ignored. Some scientists doubted their existence and others thought that are so weak that they could never be detected. But in the seventies the discovery of pulsars neutron-stars that emit light by turning lie led to the first indirect evidence of their existence.

In addition, the effects of gravitational waves are so small that detectors giant is needed to try to find them.

How are these detectors?

This is huge installations using a technology called laser interferometry. The largest of these is the Observatory laser interferometric gravitational waves (LIGO) in the United States, other detectors are Virgo in Italy and the GEO600 in Germany.

So far, the detectors are at the surface but in the future will be located underground and eLisa mission of the European space Agency (ESA) will put a detector in space, which will detect gravitational waves in a different range of frequencies.

gravitational waves “contain the promise of the unknown,” says the informative page LIGO scientific collaboration because “every time humans have looked to the Cosmos with ‘eyes’ new’ve discovered something unexpected that has revolutionized the way in which we view the universe and our place in it. “