In Einstein's theory, low-frequency gravitational waves create swells in the fabric of spacetime due to large cosmic events involving super large masses. According to the theory, the distortions created by those events can be measured by radio telescopes.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $14.5 million to the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) consortium to create and operate a Physics Frontiers Center (PFC) over the next five years. James Cordes, a professor of astronomy at Cornell University, is a co-principal investigator on the project and he will lead Cornell's team in the 15-institution effort, according to a press release, including collaborations with CalTech.
"We are all accustomed to seeing spectacular images of the sky with the Hubble Space Telescope," Cordes said, according to the press release. "These are the culmination of 400 years of observations in the visual part of the electromagnetic spectrum that began when Galileo made the first astronomical telescope and saw new things that the naked eye could not."
"The same will happen with gravitational waves, which are fundamentally different from light, radio waves and X-rays," Cordes said, according to the press release. "Once detected, the era of gravitational wave astronomy will commence. We will learn how extremely massive black holes orbit each other in the centers of galaxies and we may discover true exotica such as cosmic strings or events from the early universe."
Astronomers will use the NSF's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Green Bank Telescope.
