Press Release: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017
3 October 2017
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel
Prize in Physics 2017 with one half to
Rainer Weiss
LIGO/VIRGO Collaboration
and the other half jointly to
Barry C. Barish
LIGO/VIRGO Collaboration
and
Kip S. Thorne
LIGO/VIRGO Collaboration
"for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of
gravitational waves"
Gravitational waves finally capturedhttps://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2017/press.html
On 14 September 2015, the universe's gravitational waves were observed
for the very first time. The waves, which were predicted by Albert
Einstein a hundred years ago, came from a collision between two black
holes. It took 1.3 billion years for the waves to arrive at the LIGO
detector in the USA.
The signal was extremely weak when it reached Earth, but is already
promising a revolution in astrophysics. Gravitational waves are an
entirely new way of observing the most violent events in space and
testing the limits of our knowledge.
LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, is a
collaborative project with over one thousand researchers from more than
twenty countries. Together, they have realised a vision that is almost
fifty years old. The 2017 Nobel Laureates have, with their enthusiasm
and determination, each been invaluable to the success of LIGO.
Pioneers Rainer Weiss and Kip S. Thorne, together with Barry C. Barish,
the scientist and leader who brought the project to completion, ensured
that four decades of effort led to gravitational waves finally being
observed.
In the mid-1970s, Rainer Weiss had already analysed possible sources of
background noise that would disturb measurements, and had also designed
a detector, a laser-based interferometer, which would overcome this
noise. Early on, both Kip Thorne and Rainer Weiss were firmly convinced
that gravitational waves could be detected and bring about a revolution
in our knowledge of the universe.
Gravitational waves spread at the speed of light, filling the universe,
as Albert Einstein described in his general theory of relativity. They
are always created when a mass accelerates, like when an ice-skater
pirouettes or a pair of black holes rotate around each other. Einstein
was convinced it would never be possible to measure them. The LIGO
project's achievement was using a pair of gigantic laser
interferometers to measure a change thousands of times smaller than an
atomic nucleus, as the gravitational wave passed the Earth.
So far all sorts of electromagnetic radiation and particles, such as
cosmic rays or neutrinos, have been used to explore the universe.
However, gravitational waves are direct testimony to disruptions in
spacetime itself. This is something completely new and different,
opening up unseen worlds. A wealth of discoveries awaits those who
succeed in capturing the waves and interpreting their message.
Read more about this year's prize
Popular Science Background
[pdf]https://rmstock.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/popular-physicsprize2017.pdf[/pdf]
https://rmstock.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/popular-physicsprize2017.pdf
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2017/popular-physicsprize2017.pdf
Pdf 1.7 MB
Scientific Background
(http://image.ibb.co/i34Pz7/LIGO_2017.png)
[pdf]https://rmstock.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/advanced-physicsprize2017.pdf[/pdf]
https://rmstock.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/advanced-physicsprize2017.pdf
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2017/advanced-physicsprize2017.pdf
Pdf 2.2 MB
[pdf]https://rmstock.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/einstein-gravitation-sitzungber-preuss-akad-wiss-berlinpart16881916.pdf[/pdf]
https://rmstock.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/einstein-gravitation-sitzungber-preuss-akad-wiss-berlinpart16881916.pdf
[pdf]https://rmstock.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/einstein-gravitationswellen-sitzungber-preuss-akad-wiss-berlinnpart11541918.pdf[/pdf]
https://rmstock.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/einstein-gravitationswellen-sitzungber-preuss-akad-wiss-berlinnpart11541918.pdf
My interpretation is that Gravitational waves have indeed been detected and captured all right,
but the claim that the source of these waves have been two black holes who merged into
one black hole, is a whole different exercise.
page 11 (https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2017/advanced-physicsprize2017.pdf) :
"[ ... ]
For completeness, it should be mentioned that the gravitational-wave
detector TAMA300 with 300-m-long arms ran at the National Astronomical
Observatory in Japan, collecting data from 1999 to 2004. This detector
has now been decommissioned [34]. It is considered a prototype for the
planned advanced Japanese interferometer KAGRA [45].
[ ... ]
[34] R. Takahashi (TAMA Collaboration), Status of TAMA300,
Class. Quantum Grav. 21, S403 (2004)
[45] K Somiya (KAGRA Collaboration), Detector configuration of KAGRA –
the Japanese cryogenic gravitational-wave detector,
Class. Quantum Grav. 29, 124007 (2012)
[ ... ]"
Too bad the Japanese were decommissioned, as a fourth measurement point
in the Minkowski space would have allowed for a proper independent
measurement of the speed of the detected Gravitational wave front,
without inserting assumptions like the location of the binary black
hole (BBH) merger.
This is a variation on the Michelson Morley experiment, which showed that the earth is motionless. But that was not an acceptable answer and so Einstein came up with relativity.
All of this space stuff looks like hoaxery to me. I don't believe any of it.
QuoteAll of this space stuff looks like hoaxery to me. I don't believe any of it.
"Wir werden zeigen, daß diese (http://image.ibb.co/hSjtRn/guv_s.png) in analoger Weise berechnet
werden können wie die retardierten Potentiale der Elektrodynamik.
Daraus folgt dann zunächst, daß sich die Gravitationsfelder mit Licht-
geschwindigkeit ausbreiten. Wir werden im Anschluß an diese all-
gemeine Lösung die Gravitationswellen und deren Entstehungsweise
untersuchen. [ ... ]"
When the physicists who proposed the Gravitation theory, are put to the test
and actually are doing real world experiments, putting their assumptions and
equations to the test, it becomes interesting for me, like watching some super football
or soccer game which only happens once in a century or lifetime ;D