Neutron Stars’ Surprising Secrets Revealed by Gravitational Waves
The confirmation of gravitational waves back in 2017 continues to unlock whole new worlds of physics but also continues to elicit further questions. The detection…
Gravitational Waves
Uncovering the Secrets of Ultra-Low Frequency Gravitational Waves and the Early Development of Our Universe
New methods of detecting ultra-low frequency gravitational waves can be combined with other, less sensitive measurements to deliver fresh insights into the early development of…
The Aftermath of Binary Neutron Star Mergers: What Remains Behind?
On August 17th, 2017, LIGO detected gravitational waves from the merger of two neutron stars. This merger radiated energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, light that…
Exploring Common Envelope Outcomes of Binary Stellar Evolution
Binary neutron stars have been detected in the Milky Way as millisecond pulsars and twice outside the galaxy via gravitational-wave emission. Most of them have…
Astrophysicists Explain Puzzling Results From Gravitational Wave Observatories
Astrophysicists Explain the Origin of Unusually Heavy Neutron Star Binaries Simulations of supernova explosions of massive stars paired with neutron stars can explain puzzling results…
Bayesian Inference for Gravitational Waves From Binary Neutron Star Mergers in 3G Observatories
In the 2030’s, gravitational-wave detectors will be thousands of times more sensitive than Advanced LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA. The network of “third generation” (3G) observatories…
National Radio Astronomy Observatory Congratulates Winners of Breakthrough Prize Awards
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) congratulates the four astronomers honored by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation which awarded them the 2022 New Horizons in Physics…
Pulsar Timing Array Explores Mystery Gravitational Waves From Supermassive Black Holes
Galaxies host supermassive black holes, which weigh millions to billions of times more than our Sun. When galaxies collide, pairs of supermassive black holes at…
Ground-Breaking High-Frequency Gravitational Wave Detector Reports Rare Events
A ground-breaking detector that aims to use quartz to capture high-frequency gravitational waves has been built by researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for…
An Interactive Science Exhibit Based on a Real-Life Gravitational-Wave Detector
Making Waves at the Museum Exhuibit modeled after a real-life gravitational-wave detector to explain gravitational-wave science. It was developed by an international team, which includes…
Ripples in Space-Time Detected – Caused by the Death Spiral of a Neutron Star and a Black Hole
First Detection of Gravitational Waves From Black Holes Swallowing Neutron Stars For the first time, scientists have picked up the ripples in space-time caused by…
Plans for Gravitational Wave Observatory on the Moon
Vanderbilt astrophysicist Karan Jani has led a series of studies that make the first case for a gravitational wave infrastructure on the surface of the…
When Testing Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, Small Modeling Errors Can Add Up Fast
Small modeling errors may accumulate faster than previously expected when physicists combine multiple gravitational wave events (such as colliding black holes) to test Albert Einstein’s…
Astrophysicists on the Hunt for “Hierarchical” Black Holes
Black holes, detected by their gravitational wave signal as they collide with other black holes, could be the product of much earlier parent collisions. Such…
The Odd Couple: Groundbreaking New Discovery From Gravitational Whispers
Two gravitational wave signals from an entirely new class of cosmic collisions have been discovered by researchers working on the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo…
Gravitational-Wave Observatories Detect Rare Mergers of Black Holes With Neutron Stars for the First Time
Salvatore Vitale describes how gravitational-wave signals suggest black holes completely devoured their companion neutron stars. Recently, an international team of scientists, including researchers at MIT,…
The Final Dance of Mixed Neutron Star-Black Hole Pairs: A New Type of Cataclysmic Event in the Cosmos
Gravitational wave detectors have observed a new type of cataclysmic event in the cosmos: the merger of a neutron star with a black hole. The…
Scientists Use Artificial Intelligence to Detect Gravitational Waves – Orders of Magnitude Faster
Scientists can now process months’ worth of gravitational wave data in minutes. When gravitational waves were first detected in 2015 by the advanced Laser Interferometer…