Understanding LIGO and Its Implications

[wolram]

From WIKI,

In February 2007, GRB 070201, a short gamma-ray burst, arrived at Earth from the direction of the Andromeda Galaxy, a nearby galaxy. The prevailing explanation of most short gamma-ray bursts is the merger of a neutron star with either a neutron star or black hole. LIGO reported a non-detection for GRB 070201, ruling out a merger at the distance of Andromeda with high confidence

How can a none detection rule out anything, it may be that the detector was not working?
If a gravitational wave was not detected may be there are none to be detected.

I know that advanced LIGO will not be online until 2014 so what will happen if this new LIGO has null results?

I find it hard to imagine space ringing like a bell as some one once said, it seems in my humble opinion to be none intuitive .

 

[mfb]

How can a none detection rule out anything, it may be that the detector was not working?

It can rule out something on the basis of general relativity. General relativity could be wrong, but as far as I know, there is no viable alternative which does not include gravitational waves.

I know that advanced LIGO will not be online until 2014 so what will happen if this new LIGO has null results?

Then we'll need something completely new in some way (assuming the detector works properly).

I find it hard to imagine space ringing like a bell as some one once said, it seems in my humble opinion to be none intuitive .

Physics is often counter-intuitive, and there are countless examples where this has been demonstrated.