[ad_1]
For what is believed to be the first time, scientists have detected two black holes of different colliding masses.
The researchers detected the first gravitational wave event in 2015, and almost all of the collisions observed since then have involved black holes of nearly equal masses.
Last spring, scientists from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) started the third series of Observations (O3) from the observatories to offer a deeper insight into the inspiration and fusion phase late binary black hole (BBH) systems.
A couple of weeks after the third race began, on April 12, 2019, scientists detected an unmatched collision when two black holes with uneven masses collided. They presented their findings this month at the American Physical Society meeting, and their article is awaiting peer review.
One of the black holes was approximately 3.6 times heavier than the other, with a mass 30 times greater than that of the Sun. In comparison, the smallest black hole had a mass eight times greater than that of the Sun, a statement explains. from LIGO.
Check out a simulation of the collision here:
Collision-generated gravitational waves generally emanate at a single frequency, and before this collision was detected, these kinds of mass differences were predicted to produce subtle differences in the gravitational wave signal.
The team released the “sound” that translates gravitational waves; Check out below:
Last year’s collision allowed scientists to observe these differences for the first time by detecting waves at multiple frequencies, and the variations appeared as higher “harmonics” in the waveform. The difference in frequencies suggested an imbalance in the mass of the two colliding objects.
The collision allowed the researchers to run some new tests on Einstein’s theory of general relativity, through which collisions between objects of a different mass were expected to produce “high-order modes” in gravitational radiation.
Frank Ohme, a LIGO scientist and leader of the research group at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hannover, Germany, explained:
So far, each Advanced LIGO and Virgo observation run has given us new insights into our universe, and the third observation run is no exception.
We had detected several binary black hole mergers before, but never one where the largest black hole is almost four times more massive than its companion.
This gave us, for the first time, the opportunity to use higher harmonics in the signal to better understand the source and test the theory of general relativity in a new regime. It is clear that we are just beginning to understand the diversity of black hole binaries that exist.
Ohme added that he is excited to continue “deciphering the secrets of the universe a little more every day” through these kinds of observations.
