LONDON: Efforts to detect gravitational waves which were first predicted by Albert Einstein nearly 100 years ago are advancing with international researchers including UWA researchers boosting the sensitivity of wave detectors.
Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space and time created by violent cosmic events, such as black hole formations, and were predicted in Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity in 1916.
Scientists are hoping to document these waves using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatories (LIGO) in the United States which comprise a pair of L-shaped vacuum systems, four kilometres long with mirrors at each end, along which laser beams are fired.
The theory behind LIGO is that a gravitational wave would affect each leg differently thereby creating a measurable change.
It began observing in 2002 but no gravitational waves were detected.
Since it was first conceived a major rebuild called Advanced LIGO had been planned that would increase sensitivity by more than a factor of ten, to the point where predicted signals would be detectable about forty times per year.
