RE: Brace yourselves for gravitational waves
February 16, 2016 at 5:00 pm
(This post was last modified: February 16, 2016 at 5:01 pm by Alex K.)
Yes, that is what I alluded to earlier, it is an impressive confirmation of Einstein's field equations under extreme conditions.
To put the discovery into context one has to note that we already had very strong indirect evidence for many years that gravitational waves roughly worked the way Einstein predicted, namely from the Hulse-Taylor Pulsar measurements. This is a binary system which speeds up because it loses energy via gravitational waves and the two neutron stars approach each other. The change in frequency fits exactly the prediction from general relativity for how much energy should be radiated by a pair of neutron stars.
To put the discovery into context one has to note that we already had very strong indirect evidence for many years that gravitational waves roughly worked the way Einstein predicted, namely from the Hulse-Taylor Pulsar measurements. This is a binary system which speeds up because it loses energy via gravitational waves and the two neutron stars approach each other. The change in frequency fits exactly the prediction from general relativity for how much energy should be radiated by a pair of neutron stars.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
