Researchers have searched for these “gravitational waves” for decades, but have only been able to infer that the waves exist. Now, however, reports are circulating that twin observatories in Louisiana and Washington State have captured direct evidence of gravitational waves released when two black holes merged.
The National Science Foundation promises a status update at 10:30 a.m. today at the National Press Club with scientists from Caltech, MIT and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration on efforts to detect them the gravitational waves. Scientists hope the press conference will deliver the big news.
Gossip about a potential discovery has circulated for months in the scientific community. Most recently, theoretical physicist Cliff Burgess of Canada’s McMaster University emailed colleagues with second-hand information about the detection. The email, which ends “Woohoo! (I hope)”, was tweeted by one of the recipients and reported in Science.
The discovery, if confirmed, would have profound implications for our understanding of the universe. It would shore up Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which predicts the existence of gravitational waves. It would also provide solid new evidence that black holes really do exist. Until now, scientists have glimpsed only the X-rays and other radiation produced when matter is swallowed by a black hole, but gravitational waves are emitted by black holes themselves.
And just as the invention of the telescope gave humanity a view onto the stars, the detection of gravitational waves hands scientists an entirely new tool for probing the universe. By studying gravitational waves from black holes or neutron stars, researchers will learn about the nature of objects that have been too distant or elusive for us to grasp.
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