Big Bang Boffin Moderator asked 4 years ago
On 11 Feb 2016, LIGO announced that it had detected gravitational waves. Why was this discovery so significant?
What theories does it verify and how does it enforces the currently existing understanding of the universe?
Ajinkya Ranade answered 4 years ago
Note to self: Answer in the box that says “Your answer”
This discovery was so significant because this was the only aspect of GTR that wasn’t experimentally verified.
Gravitational waves explain how the energy is radiated off in events with body having large masses, such as quasars. However, only really large scale events produce significantly large G waves, such as colliding black holes, that can be detected. (even though the wavelength of the waves produced was still 1/1000th of the size of a proton.
Now that all aspects of GTR are verified, scientists can now work on formulating a common theory encompassing Quantum Chromodynamics and Gravity.
I like your sense of humor. and the answer of course 🙂
This discovery was so significant because this was the only aspect of GTR that wasn’t experimentally verified.
Gravitational waves explain how the energy is radiated off in events with body having large masses, such as quasars. However, only really large scale events produce significantly large G waves, such as colliding black holes, that can be detected. (even though the wavelength of the waves produced was still 1/1000th of the size of a proton.
Now that all aspects of GTR are verified, scientists can now work on formulating a common theory encompassing Quantum Chromodynamics and Gravity.