one of the events they are hoping to observe is the collision of black holes. A signal from this event will have a decreasing period as the singularities get closer and they move about each other faster. so it would look lie an inceasing wave, whose wavelength is also decreasing. on the other hand, what do the waves look like when the black holes are actually colliding? incredibly difficult to answer. the models for this situation are incredibly complex and a theoretical nightmare. so part of the problem will be predicting what a signal will look like. at this point there are some very good predictions but for a lot of the events they would like to observe there are no real models.
i listened to a lecture by an applied mathematician modelling gravity waves and he mentioned that the instrument was so sensitive that the scientists were forced to compensate for the movements of the ocean over 300 miles away. it is mindboggling to think that this detector could be thrown off by anything that remote, but that helps to illistrate the challenges the researchers face.
Slashdot Mirror
one of the events they are hoping to observe is the collision of black holes. A signal from this event will have a decreasing period as the singularities get closer and they move about each other faster. so it would look lie an inceasing wave, whose wavelength is also decreasing. on the other hand, what do the waves look like when the black holes are actually colliding? incredibly difficult to answer. the models for this situation are incredibly complex and a theoretical nightmare. so part of the problem will be predicting what a signal will look like. at this point there are some very good predictions but for a lot of the events they would like to observe there are no real models.
i listened to a lecture by an applied mathematician modelling gravity waves and he mentioned that the instrument was so sensitive that the scientists were forced to compensate for the movements of the ocean over 300 miles away. it is mindboggling to think that this detector could be thrown off by anything that remote, but that helps to illistrate the challenges the researchers face.