Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

LIGO Fails To Detect Gravity Waves

Posted by kdawson on from the listen-harder dept.

planckscale writes "Last weekend, LIGO (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) did not detect gravitational radiation in association with a gamma ray burst (GRB). The non-detection was actually a valuable contribution, as it helped to distinguish between competing models for what powers GRBs. The detector is due to be upgraded this year for even more accurate measurements. The interferometer is constructed in such a way that it can detect a change in the lengths of the two arms relative to each other of less than a thousandth the diameter of an atomic nucleus."

2 of 357 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Of couse, they could *both* have it wrong... by boot_img · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... but I would call this simply "bad" science - You can't use one poorly-understood phenomenon to explore another. You are incorrect. Gravitational waves (the phenomenon) are a very clear and very well understood prediction of the theory of General Relativity. So I would say that this is as far from "bad" science as you can get. If, ultimately, gravitational waves are not detected by LIGO and its successors that would prove GR was incorrect. And that would be a huge scientific advance.
  2. Re:As a matter of interest... by VernonNemitz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually, ONE possible problem with the experiment has nothing to do with the sensitivity of the detector. See, there is a fundamental and unproved ASSUMPTION in Physics that gravity waves must travel at the speed of light, and therefore when a gamma-ray burst happens, we expect any gravity waves from the event to arrive at the same time as the gamma-ray photons. But if they don't have to travel at light-speed, then they can exist and be detectable, just not at the same time as the gamma rays.