What are gravitational waves?

What are gravitational waves?

Gravitational waves are ripples that carry energy across the universe. They were predicted to exist by
Albert Einstein in 1916 as a consequence of his General Theory of Relativity. Although there is strong
circumstantial evidence for their existence, gravitational waves have not been directly detected before. This is
because they are minuscule a million times smaller than an atom. They are like tiny waves on a lake
from far away, the lakes surface looks glassy smooth; only up very close can the details of the surface be seen.
Particularly exciting are primordial gravitational waves, which were generated in the first moments
of the universes birth. These carry vital information about how the universe began.
What is general relativity?
In 1916, Albert Einstein discovered a mathematical way to explain gravity. He called it his general theory
of relativity. It relied on a set of coordinates that described space and time together, known as the
space-time continuum.
Matter and energy warp the space-time continuum like heavy weight on a mattress. The warping creates the
force of gravity. Gravitational waves are ripples in the space-time continuum (instead of an ordinary
mattress, think of a waterbed).
It isnt all esoteric mathematics. General relativity tells us how gravity affects time, which must be taken into
account by your satnav to tell you accurately where you are.
What is the significance of this discovery?
If scientists at Harvard University have detected gravitational waves, it is significant for two reasons. First,
this opens up a whole new way of studying the Universe, allowing scientists to infer the processes at
work that produced the waves. Second, it proves a hypothesis called inflation. This can be used to give us
information about the origin of the universe, known as the big bang.
How can gravitational waves be detected?
A telescope at the south pole, called Bicep (Background Imaging of cosmic Extragalactic
Polarisation), has been searching for evidence of gravitational waves by detecting a subtle property of the
cosmic microwave background radiation. This radiation was produced in the big bang. It was originally
discovered by American scientists in 1964 using a radio telescope and has been called the echo of the big
bang. Bicep has measured the large-scale polarisation of this microwave radiation. Only primordial
gravitational waves can imprint such a pattern, and only then if they have been amplified by inflation.
What is inflation?
The big bang was originally hypothesised by Belgian priest and physicist Georges Lemaitre. He called it the day
without yesterday because it was the moment when time and space began.
But the big bang does not fit all astronomers observations. The distribution of matter across space is too
uniform to have come from the big bang as originally conceived. So in the 1970s, cosmologists postulated a
sudden enlargement of the universe, called inflation, that occurred in the first minuscule fraction of a
second after the big bang. But confirming the idea has proved difficult. Only inflation can amplify the
primordial gravitational wave signal enough to make it detectable. If primordial gravitational waves have been
seen, it means that inflation must have taken place.
What next? Do cosmologists just pack up and go home?
No way. Now the work really begins. Einstein knew that general relativity did not mesh with another theory of
physics called quantum mechanics. Whereas general relativity talks about gravity and the universe as a whole,
quantum mechanics talks about the small scale of particles and the other forces of nature, the strong and weak
nuclear forces, and electromagnetism. Despite almost a century of effort, the worlds physicists have not been
able to show how these theories work together. The primordial gravitational waves were generated
when gravity and the universe were working on the same scale as particles and the other forces
of nature. This detection and the subsequent analysis will hopefully tell us how. If it does, this could lead to
what physics wistfully call the theory of everything. Guardian News & Media 2014
A new window into an old world

That cosmic inflation may have happened at a higher-than-anticipated energy means
physicists have access to the young universe through astronomical data
On March 17, radio astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Massachusetts,
announced a remarkable discovery. They found evidence of primordial gravitational waves imprinted on the
cosmic microwave background (CMB), a field of energy pervading the universe.
A confirmation that these waves exist is the validation of a theory called cosmic inflation. It describes the
universes behaviour less than one-billionth of a second after it was born in the Big Bang, about
14 billion years ago, when it witnessed a brief but tremendous growth spurt. The residual energy of the Bang is
the CMB, and the effect of gravitational waves on it is like the sonorous clang of a bell (the CMB) that was
struck powerfully by an effect of cosmic inflation. Thanks to the announcement, now we know the bell was
struck.
Detecting these waves is difficult. In fact, astrophysicists used to think this day was many more years into the
future. If it has come now, we must be thankful to human ingenuity. There is more work to be done, of course,
because the results hold only for a small patch of the sky surveyed, and there is also data due from studies done
until 2012 on the CMB. Should any disagreement with the recent findings arise, scientists will have to rework
their theories.
Remarkable in other ways

The astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian used a telescope called BICEP2, situated at the South Pole, to
make their observations of the CMB. In turn, BICEP2s readings of the CMB imply that when cosmic inflation
occurred about 14 billion years ago, it happened at a tremendous amount of energy of 10
16
GeV (GeV is a unit of
energy used in particle physics). Astrophysicists didnt think it would be so high.
Even the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the worlds most powerful particle accelerator, manages a puny
10
4
GeV. The words of the physicist Yakov Zeldovich, The universe is the poor mans accelerator written in
the 1970s prove timeless.
This energy at which inflation has occurred has drawn the attention of physicists studying various issues
because here, finally, is a window that allows humankind to naturally study high-energy physics by observing
the cosmos. Such a view holds many possibilities, too, from the trivial to the grand.
For example, consider the four naturally occurring fundamental forces: gravitation, strong and weak-nuclear
force, and electromagnetic force. Normally, the strong-nuclear, weak-nuclear and electromagnetic forces act at
very different energies and distances.
However, as we traverse higher and higher energies, these forces start to behave differently, as they might have
in the early universe. This gives physicists probing the fundamental texture of nature an opportunity to explore
the forces behaviours by studying astronomical data such as from BICEP2 instead of relying solely on
particle accelerators like the LHC.
In fact, at energies around 10
19
GeV, some physicists think gravity might become unified with the non-
gravitational forces. However, this isnt a well-defined goal of science, and doesnt command as much
consensus as it submits to rich veins of speculation. Theories like quantum gravity operate at this level, finding
support from frameworks like string theory and loop quantum gravity.
Another perspective on cosmic inflation opens another window. Even though we now know that gravitational
waves were sent rippling through the universe by cosmic inflation, we dont know what caused them. An answer
to this question has to come from high-energy physics a journey that has taken diverse paths over the years.
Consider this: cosmic inflation is an effect associated with quantum field theory, which accommodates the three
non-gravitational forces. Gravitational waves are an effect of the theories of relativity, which explain gravity.
Because we may now have proof that the two effects are related, we know that quantum mechanics and
relativity are also capable of being combined at a fundamental level. This means a theory unifying all the four
forces could exist, although that doesnt mean were on the right track.
At present, the Standard Model of particle physics, a paradigm of quantum field theory, is proving to be a
mostly valid theory of particle physics, explaining interactions between various fundamental particles. The
questions it does not have answers for could be answered by even more comprehensive theories that can use
the Standard Model as a springboard to reach for solutions.
Physicists refer to such springboarders as new physics a set of laws and principles capable of answering
questions for which old physics has no answers; a set of ideas that can make seamless our understanding of
nature at different energies.
Supersymmetry

One leading candidate of new physics is a theory called supersymmetry. It is an extension of the
Standard Model, especially at higher energies. Finding symptoms of supersymmetry is one of the goals
of the LHC, but in over three years of experimentation it has failed. This isnt the end of the road, however,
because supersymmetry holds much promise to solve certain pressing issues in physics which the Standard
Model cant, such as what dark matter is.
Thus, by finding evidence of cosmic inflation at very high energy, radio-astronomers from the Harvard-
Smithsonian Center have twanged at one strand of a complex web connecting multiple theories. The help
physicists have received from such astronomers is significant and will only mount as we look deeper into our
skies.