Waves alter the time and space – DNA – Latest News from Alsace

General relativity predicts that any body that moves creates a deformation of the structure of space-time, ie, change the distance and time. The observable gravitational waves are caused by violent phenomena such as the merger of two black holes. They spread in the cosmos 300 000 km / s, the speed of light. We can compare these waves to waves that form on the surface of the water when you throw a pebble. But nothing stops them.

Where do

detected waves?

The wave detected thus comes from the merger of two black holes in a single, more massive hole, and in rotation on itself. According physicists, the signal was generated during the last fraction of a second before the merger. This is the culmination of a long waltz – it can last several billion years – between two enormous players – masses of approximately 29 and 36 times that of the sun. During this waltz, everyone loses energy in the form of gravitational waves. Then it accelerated suddenly … Until the merger. Scientists estimate that the merger took place there 1.3 billion years.

How did they

measured?

What did Involved on 14 September at 11:51? It was at that time that the waves were detected by the twins interferometers Ligo (Laser Interferometer Gravitational for-Wave Observatory) in the United States. One in Livingston, Louisiana and the other in Hanford, Washington. Both devices consist of two long tunnels (4 km) perpendicular equipped with mirrors. In principle, separate into two laser beam must return exactly the same time to the starting point after being fired several times by mirrors. Or, September 14, there has been a change. She is tiny: in time is 7 milliseconds apart, and space, a hundred-millionth the size of an atom

Why it matters

<.? p> in them gravitational waves carry information that can not be otherwise obtained, regarding both their extraordinary origins and nature of gravitation. In the same way that the study of the electromagnetic spectrum can provide information on the stars, these waves could provide information about objects not seen as black holes. According to the received signals, physicists can deduce their distance, mass … And maybe more on very primitive stages of the cosmos, during the rapid phase of expansion of the universe, which would have taken place just after the Big Bang.