Gravitational wave detectors work with essentially a laser beam in a really long tunnel that is reflected back, and precisely timed, indicating the passage of gravitational waves. Conventional detectors such as LIGO, VIRGO and KAGRA can detect gravitational waves in kilohertz and hertz frequencies, and cannot possibly detect low frequency gravitational waves in nanohertz frequencies.
The gravitational waves detected so far have been from exotic stellar mass objects colliding, such as neutron stars and black holes. In theory, binary pairs of black holes in the process of colliding should be sending ripples through spacetime, as they spiral towards a merger. These ‘dancing black holes’ are believed to set the universe ringing in a gravitational wave background, but the wavelengths are so long that we need really large detectors.
A number of astronomers from around the world had been attempting to be the first to discover the gravitational wave background, using a clever method known as a pulsar timing array (PTA). Pulsars are rapidly spinning remnants of dead stars that can rotate faster than 700 times a second. The rotations can be timed, providing scientists with very precise cosmic clocks. If the timing of a number of pulsars is disrupted, it indicates the passage of gravitational waves.
The pulsars are monitored using a virtual telescope made up of many radio telescopes on Earth. Last week, the NANOGrav collaboration announced a positive detection of the gravitational wave background using a PTA. Simultaneously, astronomers from India, Europe and Japan published their own findings from their own PTAs. The Upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope near Pune was used by the Indian PTA. Indian researchers have also developed a novel technique for identifying pulsars suitable for inclusion in PTAs. Now, all the teams are pooling their efforts and data towards low-frequency gravitational wave astronomy.
Physics and AI researcher Shantanu Desai said, “I am elated that IITH students from both Physics and Electrical Engineering could be part of this historical discovery. These results are due to many years of painstaking efforts from many scientists. I am grateful for the support received from IITH. In particular, the results could not have been possible without the NSM (National Supercomputing Mission) facility Param Seva installed at IIT Hyderabad.”
IITH director BS Murty highlighted the importance of collaboration by saying, “Congratulations to the InPTA collaboration and the IITH team involved in this discovery. I am delighted that the state-of-the-art NSM Param Seva computing facility at IITH has helped to create these path-breaking results. This achievement also underscores the power of collaboration in attaining scientific benchmarking results.”
Both the uGMRT and the IPTA are expected to play a major role going forward in what is now a global effort in investigating the gravitational wave background.
International Conference on Gravitational Waves
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