Could Gravity Transport Energy?

[TheEtherWind]

I've heard that gravitational fields carry energy themselves, and are therefore a source for their own existence. I take this as a "pre-requisite" of a sort for gravitational waves. If I were to shoot a high energy laser in space and cause a rippling effect of space-time. Could somebody, somewhere else, convert gravitational waves back into energy?

 

[cosmik debris]

In a word, yes.

 

[TheEtherWind]

If I remember correctly, gravitational waves have yet to be confirmed to exist by experiment?

 

[Bill_K]

They haven't been detected directly, but analysis of the decay rate of the binary pulsar PSR B1913+16 indicates that it is losing energy at a rate that can be explained by gravitational wave emission. This work was worth the 1993 Nobel prize in physics.