«MK” detail disassembled scientific sensation century
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The event, predicted a hundred years ago Albert Einstein took place February 11, 2016 – scientists announced the discovery of gravitational waves – a new tool for the study of the universe. Now humanity is entering a new era – the era of gravitational wave astronomy. This is akin to the emergence of a telescope or radio astronomy and worthy of a Nobel Prize! One of the discoveries of authors, scientific director of the Russian Quantum Centre, Moscow State University Professor Mikhail Gorodetsky explained to readers of “MK”, as the same has been made the discovery.
The event itself, which surely will in all new physics textbooks, was registered on September 14 2015 13.51 Moscow time on the two detectors twin laser interferometer gravitational wave observatory (LIGO), located in Livingston (Louisiana) and Hanford (Washington). 23 (!) Years this was a group of physicists in 1000, which included 8 representatives of our State University and the Institute of Applied Physics of Nizhny Novgorod.
Physicists, of course, did not expect such luck. Detectors caught the vibrations of the space as a result of events that occurred far in the universe 1.3 billion (!) Years ago. The two colliding black holes have masses of 29 and 36 of our suns and merged into a single mass of .. no, not 65, and 62 of the sun. Weight 3 missing Suns just “disappeared” into space in the form of gravitational waves. On the left is a few thousandths of a second. The maximum output power at the same time proved to be 50 times greater than that of the entire visible universe. Analyzing the moments of arrival of the signal, the detector in Livingston recorded event on 7 milliseconds before the detector in Hanford. This gave the scientists an opportunity to argue that the source was located in the southern hemisphere of the sky
But in fact, each of the detectors caught the wave
-.? What is the detector itself? – I ask Michael Gorodetsky
-. If we describe it is primitive, it consists of a laser transmitter and off of it at a right angle to each other two steel pipe length by 4 km. At the end of each pipe -.. By a mirror with a diameter of about 25 cm This is a very sensitive mirror, reflecting about 99.999% of light
– How does this design
? – Of the two beams coming out of the radiator, and the twins each flock to his mirror. These mirrors are configured so that at equal distances pipes they return each beam back to a starting point (beam splitter), and both beams each other “paid off”, without departing from the divider. If the radiation is not extinguished completely and change with time – hence, the distance “shoulders” are not the same. This is proof that our detector was subjected to fluctuations in the gravitational wave
-. Let’s order – which side of the wave went to the detector
? – Wave falls perpendicular to the Earth’s surface from above. As a result, one pipe compresses (reduces the distance between the laser and mirror), and the other “shoulder” – increases. That is already the rays are not the same distance, and output as a result of this difference appears weak asymmetrical optical study, which we registered. According to it, we tried as shrink and expand our antenna (tube with laser beams)
-. And this vibration you were able to “see” the merger of two black holes at a distance of 1.3 billion years back
-?. Yes
– what was the role of Russian physicists in the project
-? We are engaged increased sensitivity antenna, looking for ways to reduce the levels of various noises. Bearing in mind the very small tube compression levels (-19 to 10 degrees of a meter), imagine what must be sensitive mirror ?! And if somewhere nearby will drive a truck? Everything, even the sounds that could prevent us from seeing a gravitational wave. Therefore, we are of the noise and get rid
-. What it took to do
-? A whole range of measures, from the purity of the materials, the laser beam size, geometry detector … Mirrors had to hang on very precise quartz fibers so that they are not fluctuated under the influence of seismic or acoustic
-. But it still had to be distinguished from gravitational wave electromagnetic or radio waves?
– There is no other besides gravitational wave could not influence the course of the laser beams. But electromagnetic waves could create interference, and we eliminated them, too
-. When you commit a gravitational wave detector employed two different states. Why
-? First, to test the results to make sure that we do not have fixed some local event, and indeed fluctuations on a global scale. Secondly, the delay fluctuations between 7 milliseconds allowed us to determine to what side of the sky there was an event.
In general, scientists now has new tools for wiretapping the universe. He, according to Gorodetsky, help us to fix almost directly cosmic events such as the collision of black holes or neutron stars. And yet, unlike electromagnetic waves, which are absorbed by the gas and dust clouds, gravity no obstacles are not terrible. And finally, a small miracle: frequency gravitational waves recorded by the LIGO, already transformed into sound. According to Gorodetsky, he reminds chirping of birds.
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