14 DAY TRIAL // Over the past few years, astronomers have been able to figure out that pulsars are extremely important pieces of the cosmic puzzle. Studying these structures could reveal more about the existence of strong gravitational interactions, while at the same time confirming the Theory on General Relativity.
The theory, proposed by famed physicist Albert Einstein, equates matter and energy in a single formula, and is one of the most important discoveries ever made. All tests conducted to verify it thus far have succeeded in doing so, but science has yet to establish it as fact.
One of the most significant aspects the theory has is that the Universe may be permeated by gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime that are produced by massive gravitational interactions. They could be generated, for example, by neutron stars or black holes in binary system.
Supernova blasts may also produce them, the theory goes. Unfortunately, no study has been able to discover these waves thus far, so the search continues. Now, scientists say that astrophysicists could have a much easier time discovering these ripples if they used pulsars as reference points in their studies.
Pulsars are a very special class of neutron stars, whose primary characteristic is that they spin around their axis at great speed, releasing jets of radiations. When these jets are oriented towards Earth, we perceive the star as a cosmic lighthouse, or a pulsating light source.
These objects are mostly visible in radio wavelengths. They are the densest structures in the Universe, except for black holes. However, in theory, the concept of density does not really apply to black holes, Science Blog reports.
As such, pulsars provide the most intense sources of gravity that are still observable. They are all extremely precise, in the sense that their pulses are always spread at exactly the same distance from one another. This trait has countless applications for weird experiments to be conducted in space.
At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS 2012), in Vancouver, British Columbia, a group of scientists presented the results of such a study, and added that they are barely starting to scratch the surface of what can be achieved through this study technique.
“By carefully timing pulsar pulses, we can precisely measure the properties of the neutron stars. Several sets of observations have shown that pulsars’ motions are not dependent on their structure, so General Relativity is safe so far,” University of British Columbia expert Ingrid Stair said.
“Pulsars are such extremely precise timepieces that we can use them to detect gravitational waves in a frequency range to which no other experiment will be sensitive,” added colleague Benjamin Stappers, who is based at the University of Manchester, in the UK.