Telescopes, which observe the universe in the most energetic form of light, could help scientists detect the “fingerprints” of gravitational waves, new research has revealed.
Gravitational waves are formed when massive objects such as black holes collide, creating waves in space-time that flood The Earth. Although current gravitational wave observatories, such as Laser interferometer Gravity-wave observatory (LIGO) and the Virgo interferometer can detect violent collisions that lead to gravitational waves, these observatories can only see one of these events at a time, often months away.
But there may be another way to find gravitational waves: by looking for their fingerprints pulsarsfast rotating neutron stars which pulsate at regular intervals.
Connected: Gravitational waves play with fast-spinning stars, the study suggests
Researchers now believe they have paved the way for this goal in a new study, thanks to NASA observations Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescopewho observes the universe in gamma rays, the most energetic form of light.
“We were surprised at how good it is to find the types of pulsars we need to look for these gravitational waves – over 100 so far!” declaration.
Pulsars rotate at very precise intervals, and scientists can track these intervals from Earth thanks to the rays emitted by pulsars. As gravitational waves flood the pulsar, they can subtly change the timing of these pulsars, and astrophysicists believe they can observe these subtle changes and thus track the gravitational waves that created them.
Traditionally, astronomers have found pulsars using radio telescopes to search the sky for radio waves. But the gas and dust that fill space are not conducive to radio waves; many of them are assimilated along the way.
Gamma rays, in contrast, have the highest energy of any wave electromagnetic spectrumwhich means they will pass. But until this new study, astrophysicists had never used gamma rays to track pulsars. The results could mean that there is a new, more powerful way to find pulsars and in turn to detect gravitational waves, and researchers hope that future improvements will make these detection methods even more sensitive.
The study is described in an article published April 7 in the journal science.
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