LIGO tagged posts

On Sept. 14, 2015, LIGO detected gravitational waves from two merging black holes, shown here in this artist’s conception. The Fermi space telescope detected a burst of gamma rays 0.4 seconds later. New research suggests that the burst occurred because the two black holes lived and died inside a single, massive star. Credit: Swinburne Astronomy Production

On Sept14, 2015, Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detected gravitational waves from the merger of 2 black holes 29 and 36 times the mass of the Sun. Such an event is expected to be dark, but the Fermi Space Telescope detected a gamma-ray burst just a fraction of a second after LIGO’s signal...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced the detection of gravitational waves by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), a pair of ground-based observatories in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana. Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in his general theory of relativity a century ago, and scientists have been attempting to detect them for 50 years. He pictured these waves as ripples in the fabric of space-time produced by massive, accelerating bodies, such as black holes orbiting each other.

Just as in other areas of astronomy, astronomers need both ground-based and space-based observatories to take full advantage of this new window...

Because quantum motion, or noise, is theoretically an intrinsic part of the motion of all objects, Schwab and his colleagues designed a device that would allow them to observe this noise and then manipulate it. The micrometer-scale device consists of a flexible aluminum plate that sits atop a silicon substrate. Credit: Chan Lei and Keith Schwab/Caltech

For the 1st time, Caltech and other researchers have found a way to observe and control quantum motion of an object that is large enough to see. Even large objects obey quantum physics, ie they are never quite at rest.
In classical physics, physical objects indeed can be motionless. Drop a ball into a bowl, and it will roll back and forth a few times, then gravity and friction will cause the ball to come to a stop.

“In the past couple of yea...