90个引力波谱图和计数
(原标题: Ninety Gravitational Wave Spectrograms and Counting)
2021-12-07
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每当两个巨大的黑洞碰撞时，一种巨大的啁啾声就会以引力波的形式传播到宇宙中。在过去的七年里，人类才有技术听到这些不寻常的啁啾，但从那以后，在前三次观测中，我们已经听到了大约90次。以上是由LIGO（美国）、VIRGO（欧洲）和KAGRA（日本）的巨型探测器探测到的90个引力波的频谱图——引力波频率与时间的关系。地球从碰撞中接收到的能量越多，它在图像上的亮度就越高。在许多科学上的第一次中，这些引力辐射的啁啾声给人类提供了前所未有的黑洞和中子星的清单，以及测量宇宙膨胀率的新方法。目前计划在2022年12月开始进行第四次灵敏度更高的引力波观测。
查看原文解释
very time two massive black holes collide, a loud chirping sound is broadcast out into the universe in gravitational waves. Humanity has only had the technology to hear these unusual chirps for the past seven years, but since then we have heard about 90 -- during the first three observing runs. Featured above are the spectrograms -- plots of gravitational-wave frequency versus time -- of these 90 as detected by the giant detectors of LIGO (in the USA), VIRGO (in Europe), and KAGRA (in Japan). The more energy received on Earth from a collision, the brighter it appears on the graphic. Among many science firsts, these gravitational-radiation chirps are giving humanity an unprecedented inventory of black holes and neutron stars, and a new way to measure the expansion rate of our universe. A fourth gravitational wave observing run with increased sensitivity is currently planned to begin in 2022 December.