Recent Press Releases
A new way to explore the universe
Tue, 22 May 2007
Gravitational Waves (GWs) are created by violent events in space such as a supernova explosion or as two massive objects - such as black holes or neutron stars - orbit each other. The direct detection of GWs would open up a whole new way to examine the universe and to understand the beginning of our solar system but has not been achieved yet. A new method for the direct detection of GWs based on using atoms rather than electromagnetic radiation is reported today at an Institute Of Physics conference and a paper in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity.
All astronomy is based on the detection of electromagnetic radiation from gamma rays through visible light to radiowaves. These provide a “photo” of what is in the sky but GWs would enable scientists to look inside objects in space such as black holes and supernovae and study how events such as supernova explosions happen. This is because GWs can pass through any matter in their path without being disturbed, unlike electromagnetic radiation so can carry information about astronomical objects to detectors on Earth.
Dr Flavio Vetrano, one of the proposers of the new method at Universita di Firenze in Italy said: “The main problem with detecting GWs is that the signals are very weak compared to those from electromagnetic raidation. Current detectors that are available use optical interferometers to detect waves. This is when two electromagnetic waves are combined to give a new wave and the properties of the new wave can tell you all sorts of information about where the original waves came from. In most cases, however, the sensitivities are only marginally sufficient to detect the expected signals from GWs.”
“Our paper outlines how atom rather than optical interferometry could be used to detect gravitational waves and pave the way for smaller and more accurate detectors than those that exist already. This involves splitting up packets of atoms and recombining them and looking at the resulting signal rather than combining waves of light. If our theory can be realised in practise it would open up a whole new way to look at the universe and understand how it works.”
Notes to editors:
- The talk, Gravitational wave detection – current status, will take place on Thursday 5 April 2007 at 13:30 hours.
- The Insititute of Physics conference, Nuclear and Particle Physics Conference, will be held on 3 – 5 April 2007 at the University of Surrey. The full programme for the conference can be found here.
- The article, Is it possible to detect gravitational waves with atom interferometers?, will be available online at 14:00on 5 April 2007 at: www.iop.org/journals/cqg
- For further information and interviews:
Helen MacBain, press officer. Tel +44 (0)7946 321473; +44 (0)20 7470 4815
E-mail: helen.macbain@iop.org
5. Classical and Quantum Gravity is an international, peer-reviewed journal published by the not-for-profit learned society publisher IOP Publishing. It features original research and topical review articles covering all branches of gravitational physics and the theory of spacetime. For further information about the journal please contact cqg@iop.org.
- The Institute of Physics is a scientific membership organisation devoted to increasing the understanding and application of physics. It has an extensive worldwide membership (currently over 35,000) and is a leading communicator of physics with all audiences from specialists through government to the general public. Its publishing company, IOP Publishing, is a world leader in scientific publishing and the electronic dissemination of physics.
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