Gravitational waves Definition and 332 Threads

How powerful could this be at it's strongest, say, a supermassive black hole merger lensed by another nearby black hole? Could the waves be powerful enough to be easily detected, or even to be seen directly if a human was there? What would they do to solid matter, bend or crack it?

As bodies orbit each other they emit gravitational waves (presumably by emitting gravitons). There could be configurations of several moons around a planet (for instance) where the quadrupole moment does not change and is invariant. However, there could still be higher order effects, namely...

Reading Dirac's "General Theory of Relativity", Chap. 33 "Gravitational waves". He shows that in a weak gravitational field (##g_{\mu\nu}## approximately constant), using harmonic coordinates, we have a wave equation ##g^{\mu\nu}g_{\rho\sigma,\mu\nu}\approx...

Hi, I'd like to discuss in this thread the propagation of Gravitational Waves (GW) in the context of GR. Just to fix ideas, let's consider a FW spacetime. It is not stationary (even less static), however the timelike congruence of "comoving observers" is hypersurface orthogonal. Suppose at a...

Reading the article, GRAVITY BENDING GRAVITY: ARE ANY OF THE O3A LIGOVIRGO DETECTIONS GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED? I think about the following two questions: 1. Gravity bends light and all other electromagnetic waves. Does it also bend gravitational waves? 2. Does gravity change the direction of...

Don't know if this is the right forum, but I'll give it a try: If you build a bridge over a gorge that's a couple km deep the middle of the bridge would be as far away from the mountains on both sides as possible (and therefore as far away from the mountains' gravitational field as possible)...

I’m trying to understand the Hellings and Downs curve that is being used to argue for the existence of a gravitational wave background ([NANOGrav article][1]). How can it be that the angle between two pulsars is the only variable that determines if the gravitational waves will interfere...

Covers: - Low-frequency gravitational waves - Quantum energy teleportation - JWST Discoveries

So normally with gravitational lensing Technique We get to see how spacetime curvature and gravitational waves affect propagation of light. So I got a questions: (1) I know gravitational waves are caused by supernovas, collisions and other related actions, but would a quantum fluctuations that...

In principle every object orbiting another (e.g. a planet revolving around a star) would emit gravitational waves, relaxing the orbit over time.However, this would not happen if the orbits had a time-invariant and symmetric quadrupole moment. As it is indicated in this question (), it appears...

Hi All. I am interested in finding out if the International Pulsar Timing Array team have detected specific waveform types. The waves I am particularly interested in (if they exist) would be low frequency and would be triggered at a minimum amplitude. Example below: There may be waves detected...

Supermassive black hole in close orbits should produce powerful gravitational waves, but their frequency is too low to be measured with gravitational wave detectors we can build. Luckily nature has built something we can use. The NANOGrav collaboration is studying the arrival time of signals...

From this morning's Economist briefing: The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory—the world’s most sensitive device for spotting gravitational waves—starts up again on Wednesday after a three-year hiatus for upgrades. LIGO is designed to detect subtle ripples in space and time...

In the book general relativity by Hobson the gravitational wave of a binary merger is computed in the frame of the binary merger as well as the TT-gauge. I considered what components of the Riemann tensor along the x-axis in both gauges. The equation for the metric in the source and TT-gauge are...

I am frequently contemplating the size of the universe. Logic tells me that existence cannot is end as there really can’t be anything as anti-existence but if the universe loops back on itself; it may not be an issue. Is there a possible way in the far future to semi-accurately measure its size...

I was reading this paper (*Green's functions for gravitational waves in FRW spacetimes:* [https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9309025](https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9309025)) and I had a specific question about one statement in the paper that I would like to ask: At page 6, the author says that...

For some time I was wondering, what would happen if the Sun just disappeared like someone hit the delete button in Universal Sandbox. Specifically, what kind of gravitational waves will be produced in the wake of such an event? Would the law of conservation of Mass-Energy be miraculously...

0:00 Perihelion precession of Mercury 17:15 Bending of light 24:48 Shapiro delay 33:32 Pound-Rebka experiment 41:40 Spectral lines of stars 44:58 Gravitational waves 49:22 Other important effects

0:00 The weak field limit 27:15 The Newtonian limit 44:00 Gravitational waves 59:27 Geodesic deviation 1:22:15 Measuring gravitational waves

This is my first post so I apologize if i am in error anywhere. I recently had a thought that I have had trouble confirming. Based on the following assumptions. 1.) As you accelerate an object near the speed of light it’s mass increases exponentially. 2.) Mass warps space time. 3.) Spacetime...

in a nutshell what are the differences between gravitational and electromagnetic waves?

Are gravitational waves purely temporal? An object with no spatial velocity experiences gravity due to temporal velocity?

Recently viewed video about wormholes that required negative energy to create it. Suppose hypothetical aliens have discovered this technology. Spaceship enters in first point and exit at second. To prevent spaceship destruction they might have technology to smooth gravitational waves on exit...

Electromagnetic or gravitational wave carries energy and momentum from place to place as,I understand.Does it imply that such waves only can carry information and if their energy gets dissipated as heat, the information contained is lost. Is this information content is to be decoded by human...

An exact gravitational plane wave solution to Einstein's field equation has the line metric $$\mathrm{d}s^2=-2\mathrm{d}u\mathrm{d}v+a^2(u)\mathrm{d}^2x+b^2(u)\mathrm{d}^2y.$$ I have calculated the non-vanishing Christoffel symbols and Ricci curvature components and used the vacuum Einstein...

Why are gravitational waves able to move at the speed of light?

It seems to me that gravitational waves are ignored when inflationary physics are described. I'm not very well read, and honestly do not know so much about most of the physics going on with inflation. Still, wave mechanics matter, harmonics matter, and it just seems intuitive to me that in order...

How do gravitational waves in spacetime stretch and compress solid matter such as the LIGO experiment. I ask this because the expansion of spacetime of the Universe doesn't seem to have any effect on the small scale ie the solar system.

Hi, I would like to ask for some clarification about the physics involved in the gravitational waves detection using interferometers. Starting from this thread Light speed and the LIGO experiment I'm aware of the two ends of an arm of the interferometer (e.g. LIGO) can be taken as the...

A popular theory is that black holes gradually leak information because of black hole evaporation due to hawking radiation. When black holes merge, a significant portion of their mass is converted into gravitational waves. If it's true that black holes leak information due to hawking radiation...

I read that the LIGO detector in the US was able to detect a difference of less that the length of a proton, or maybe even less than this. How is this possible? The perpendicular arms won't be the same length down to the nearest proton length. Also, at such small lengths the microclimate on each...

The exercise is to derive the form of the symmetric, trace-free and transverse gravitational wave perturbation ##\hat{E}_{ij}## to the FRW metric$$ds^2 = a^2(\tau) \left[ -d\tau^2 + (\delta_{ij} + 2\hat{E}_{ij})dx^i dx^j \right]$$First step is to figure out the connection coefficients, which are...

If we compare 2 scenarios... A) 2 solar mass black hole hyperbolic flyby of Earth at 5000km/s far enough not to cause a tidal disruption event vs B) an extremely close binary pair of 1 solar mass black holes whose barycenter hyperbolically travels past Earth at 5000km/s, also far enough not to...

Suppose some aliens travel to our solar system after seeing our radio broadcasts using an Alcubierre drive. Would it not create a notable gravitational disturbance? Or does it leave spacetime undisturbed around it?

Spacecraft heading to Uranus and Neptune in the next decade could be used to investigate gravitational waves as they venture into the outer Solar System. That is according to a new study by a team of Swiss and Danish researchers, who say that examination of the radio signals from far-flung...

Let's assume a binary system with an inclination angle ##i## (angle between the orbital plane and line of sight). Then, according to this source - equations (128) and (129) - for the amplitudes of the tensor polarization modes ("plus": ##+## and "cross": ##\times## polarization) I could write...

Usually spacetime curvature is localized/proximal to what is "causing" it, right? I'm wondering whether there is a term for the situation seen with gravitational waves where there is some relatively flat space between observable gravitational effects and the mass(es) that "caused" them? I'm...

Is the subject of gravitational waves the most difficult one to grasp on the theory of Relativity? Or is it just the math that is very complicated?

Would using gravitational waves to measure (it's obviously a gedankenexperiment!) position and momentum of, say, an electron in a specific state, disprove HUP since the quantum of energy of grav. waves does not exist? Would it be possibile to have an arbitrarily small uncertainty in position...

When a gravitational wave passes through a location in space, what is the magnitude of equivalent gravity that it produces at that location? Or rather, is it correct to say that gravity can influence gravitational waves but gravitational waves can't influence gravity?

An elevator in outer space where there is negligible gravity, accelerates at the most precise constant acceleration that current technology enables. Inside that elevator, resides an accelerometer that is the most precise accelerometer that current technology enables, but not more precise than...

Here is a video i have watched: It made me think of the following questions: A. Gravitational waves at the scale that emanate from earth: 1. It is doubtful if they exist at all. 2. They are predicted to exist, but at an extremely small magnitude. B. In case the answer is A2: 1. These...

Hello everyone! I was listening to a podcast that featured a cosmologist and she mentioned that if the universe was positively curved (and therefore a sphere overall), light would travel around the universe and then end up where it started. I wondered, would a gravitational wave do the same?

Is it theoretically possible that one day a gravitational wave detector will be developed, that is sensitive enough to detect gravitation at the order of magnitude that an Earth like planet has?

Hello, Apart from the graviton postulate, which would permit such a mechanism, my question is: would a similar mechanism be possible with a stationary wave? (the simplest scenario I can immagine is of two opposing waves). My background is in DSP and Acoustics so I might get things wrong (a...

I'd like to see some of the consequences of the existence of gravitational waves (both expected and unexpected), in laymen's terms so a simpleton like me can understand and relate to them. A possible consequence that I thought of (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) is that...

I was reading (or at least skimming) this paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.10702 in which they seem to be discussing gravitational wave lensing. Is this an analogue of light lensing or is it another subject entirely? I mean, as I understand it, light is bend using gravity (as for...

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Seems gravity waves are longitudinal waves, similar to sound waves as it is produced by the vibrations of spacetime? So in theory, if we can produce a powerful enough gravity wave, can we hear it? G-waves are usually produced by merging binary neutron stars or black holes. These celestial...

Is it fair to say that all energy from a Gravitational Wave that enters the photon sphere of a Black Hole is destine to become part of that BH? And other parts that remain just outside of the photon sphere would experience gravitational lensing? Perhaps focusing the GW to an area of much...