The search for gravitational waves

Details The search for gravitational waves The search for gravitational waves

Jun 1985

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1985amsci..73..248s&link_type=abstract

American Scientist (ISSN 0003-0996), vol. 73, May-June 1985, p. 248-257.

Computer Science

1

Gravitational Waves, Relativity, Space-Time Functions, Displacement Measurement, Earth Rotation, Mass Distribution, Spatial Distribution, Stellar Motions, Temporal Distribution

Scientific paper

Gravitational radiation, first predicted in the General Theory of Relativity around 1916, was not accepted as existing for several decades. It has now been empirically shown that time rates are different at different spatial locations. Conceptually, the geometrical variations in spacetime are what comprises a gravitational field. The earth provides a smooth, static background for a net gravitational field in which, it is surmised, small wave-like variations, i.e., gravitational waves (GW), occur. The field is generated by the stress energy called matter. The movement of matter causes the waves. Large scale irregular motions of distant massive stellar objects are considered to generate the largest GWs measureable on earth. A theoretical formula has been defined for calculating the amplitude of a GW from its observed effects on matter of a known mass. Quantitative estimates have been made of GW energy expected from a variety of stellar events. Detectors such as bar and crystal detectors and laser interferometers are in place on earth and capable of measuring atomic displacements in solids to an accuracy of 10 to the -18th m. Improvements to 10 to the -22nd m are required to reach the quantum displacement levels expected of GWs.

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