A new study could help researchers discover hundreds of black holes and gain insight into our mysterious universe.
Next year scientists plan to switch on two detectors in hopes of picking up on the faint ripples (known as gravitational waves) created by the collision of black holes millions of years ago, Cardiff University reported. The research team has built a theoretical model that works to predict these gravitational waves that are expected to be picked up by the detectors.
"The rapid spinning of black holes will cause the orbits to wobble, just like the last wobbles of a spinning top before it falls over. These wobbles can make the black holes trace out wild paths around each other, leading to extremely complicated gravitational-wave signals. Our model aims to predict this [behavior] and help scientists find the signals in the detector data," said Mark Hannam from the School of Physics and Astronomy.
The new model will work as a "spotter's guide" that will help scientists using the LIGO detectors better understand how these black holes orbit each other and collide.
"Sometimes the orbits of these spinning black holes look completely tangled up, like a ball of string. But if you imagine whirling around with the black holes, then it all looks much clearer, and we can write down equations to describe what is happening. It's like watching a kid on a high-speed spinning amusement park ride, apparently waving their hands around. From the sidelines, it's impossible to tell what they're doing. But if you sit next to them, they might be sitting perfectly still, just giving you the thumbs up," said Hannam.
The model has already been programmed into the computer codes that LIGO scientists are preparing to use, but it still requires additional work. So far only the precision effects that occur when the black holes spiral towards each other have been factored in, the team still needs to included what happens to those spins when the objects collide. In order to do this they need to perform computer simulations to solve Einstein's equations for before and after the black holes collide.
"For years we were stumped on how to untangle the black-hole motion. Now that we've solved that, we know what to do next," Hannam concluded.
