Learning GRT: Why the High Frequency Search?

In summary: LIGO team to state that they were "almost there" in their detection announcement in 2002. This created doubt and controversy among some observers.The article suggests that the lack of candor about the difficulty of detection has harmed the credibility of gravitational wave detection efforts in the past.
  • #36
exmarine said:
I am trying to learn GRT so I can answer questions for myself. But I might croak first, so I’ll ask here. That gravity wave interferometer they are building out in Richland, Washington - I obviously haven’t read all the technical papers on their web site, but I am pretty sure one I did read showed a spectrogram or PSD with search frequencies of 40 Hz and above. I understand that the behavior of the Taylor-Hulse binary is the only empirical evidence we have so far of gravity waves - and its orbital period is around 8 hours. Can anyone explain why they are looking at such high frequencies? Shouldn’t we be looking for ultra-low frequency waves with periods like 8 hours (or maybe half that for these type waves)? Do we expect stuff falling into a black hole to emit broad-band high frequency gravity waves? Thanks for any enlightenment.
With the recent discovery of gravitational waves, I have a question. Knowing the frequency and wave length of these waves, can a harmonic wave increase gravity in the sphere of influence and conversely can gravitational force be eliminated or reduced by generating a wave 180 degrees out of phase with the gravity wave. I suppose there are many wondering the same thing.
 
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  • #37
No. Gravity waves don't cancel the gravity attraction, just as light doesn't cancel magnetic attraction.

What gravity waves could cancel are tidal forces. In a pretty boring way.
 

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