Even small black holes emit gravitational waves when they collide, and LIGO heard them
LIGO scientists say they have discovered gravitational waves coming from another black hole merger, and it's the tiniest one they've ever seen.
The findings, submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters, could shed light on the diversity of the black hole population — and may help scientists figure out why larger black holes appear to behave a little differently from the smaller ones.
"Its mass makes it very interesting," said Salvatore Vitale, a data analyst and theorist with the LIGO Lab at MIT. The discovery, he added, "really starts populating more of this low-mass region that [until now] was quite empty."
The black holes had estimated masses of around 12 and 7 solar masses.
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Monday November 20 2017, @08:17AM (5 children)
They do go into a "spin-fit" with each other. At some point though, while spinning furiously, they do eventually touch. Hence, the term collide. A straight up head on collision seems extremely unlikely, but if the universe is indeed infinite according to some theories, they do occur.
I remember in reading the last LIGO papers they used a term "ring down". If a quarter was spinning on your desk, eventually it will (excepting those times when it stands on its edge) start to fall over and start rotating on the edges, faster and faster, till the surface of the quarter is finally flat against the surface. The ring down is that end when the black holes actually collide and merge together. If you listen to the quarter, that's similar to what the scientists are doing listening to the black holes circle each other.
Hoping one of our other posters more well versed in the matter chime in, and explain it better.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Monday November 20 2017, @09:36AM (1 child)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtZ7OVoI2nc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL81uuYW9BY
But it's worth just subscribing, they cover a whole host of things: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7_gcs09iThXybpVgjHZ_7g/featured?disable_polymer=1
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by anubi on Monday November 20 2017, @10:17AM
Thanks for the links. I watched your last one first.. intriguing.. they have the same belief I have about EM drives and "energy from the vacuum", but I do not understand the underlying physics, rather I am merely conjecturing using previous observations as basis.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Monday November 20 2017, @09:41AM (2 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by anubi on Monday November 20 2017, @10:31AM
Thanks... I was looking for what would provide the "resistance" to slow it down. I was envisioning a barbell-shaped mass spending an eternity in a high speed spin with nothing to slow it down. I never considered the energy needed to create gravitational waves.
I considered "tidal" fields, as in how the earth and moon interact through gravity, with the earth gradually slowing down as it transfers its rotational inertia to the moon, slinging it further and further out. But I saw no nearby thing to transfer the energy to.
Just because it isn't nearby does not mean its not there. Those gravitational waves go on to infinity, I suppose, giving infinitesimally small ( but non-zero ) drag on the rotating pair.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday November 20 2017, @11:31PM
Thanks. I always appreciate the explanations from you guys :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.