If we had one subforum for every experiment, they would be impossible to find.houlahound said:Is another subforum for Ligo, I see nothing in here(?
Because there are neot that many black hole mergers.houlahound said:My main question is on all the popular media reports i have only seen the one pulse, the now famous chirp If the thing works why isn't it swamped with signals??
No, it is not "frikkin luck". Did you not read what I said? LIGO was built to see this type of event and the fact that they already saw one is likely an indicator that they are relatively common. If not this particular one, it is likely another would have come.houlahound said:Talk about frikkin luck then, no wonder that team was doing the happy dance.
krater said:Is my understanding correct, that it is due to both the similarity to each other in mass as well as the range of their masses, 10s of stellar mass, that it produced a "nice" signal for detection by LIGO, and that mergers between BH-mass objects with a higher differential, say one at 10 SM and one at 75-100 SM, would not result in as large of a signal when they merged? Presumably we are reviewing our models of likelyhoods that mergers like this will happen, my first impression of LIGO was, apart from the GW detection, that the BHs involved were far more rare than those nearly an order of magnitude smaller.
LIGO stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. It is a large-scale scientific experiment designed to detect and measure gravitational waves, a phenomenon predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity. LIGO's discovery of gravitational waves in 2015 confirmed a major prediction of Einstein's theory and opened up a new era of gravitational wave astronomy.
The 'chirp' pulse is the distinctive sound made by the merging of two black holes, as detected by LIGO. It is important because it confirmed the existence of gravitational waves and provided direct evidence of the collision of two massive objects in space.
LIGO uses a technique called interferometry, which involves splitting a laser beam and sending it down two perpendicular arms that are each several kilometers long. When a gravitational wave passes through, it causes a slight stretching and squeezing of space-time, which is detected by the laser beams. This allows LIGO to measure incredibly small changes in distance, on the order of 1/1000th the width of a proton.
LIGO's detection of gravitational waves confirmed a major prediction of Einstein's theory of general relativity and opened up a new way for scientists to study the universe. Gravitational waves provide a unique way to observe objects and events in space that cannot be seen with traditional telescopes, such as black holes and neutron stars. This has the potential to greatly advance our understanding of the universe and its origins.
LIGO is expected to make many more exciting discoveries in the future. These could include the detection of gravitational waves from other sources, such as the collision of neutron stars or the merging of supermassive black holes. LIGO could also help scientists study the properties of gravity and test Einstein's theory in extreme conditions. Additionally, LIGO's technology could be adapted for other applications, such as improving earthquake detection and navigation systems.