14 DAY TRIAL // According to the results of a new scientific study, it would appear that weird cosmic objects known as pulsars could potentially be used to study gravitational waves produced by supermassive black holes.
This line of study is still in its earliest days, but experts believe that the data they accumulate as studies of pulsars progress could eventually enable large-scale studies of gravitational forces in the Universe.
Gravitational waves were first proposed by Albert Einstein in his famous Theory of General Relativity. The physicist argued that some of the most violent events in the Cosmos, including black hole mergers and supernova explosions, cause ripples in the very fabric of spacetime.
These ripples could theoretically be detected, he added, but only under a very precise set of conditions. Since then, astrophysicists have been devising experiments to test this prediction, but thus far with limited success due to technological hurdles.
However, experts caught a break in 1967, when the first pulsar was found. Objects of this class are in fact fast-spinning neutron stars, whose radiation jets only reach Earth if there are oriented head-on from our perspective. The thing about pulsars is that they are extremely precise.
For decades, astronomers have used their lights as standard reference frames for measuring distances in the Universe. It was only recently that precise measurements determined that these objects exhibit slight irregularities in their spin rates.
These variations reduced their importance for astronomical studies, until scientists led by professor Andrew Lyne at the University of Manchester determined that the objects in fact display two different rates of spin change, Daily Galaxy reports.
What this means is that experts now know how to correct the aforementioned slight irregularities, making pulsars a viable instrument for scientific research yet again.
“Humanity's best clocks all need corrections, perhaps for the effects of changing temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity or local magnetic field. Here, we have found a potential means of correcting an astrophysical clock,” the team leader explained at the time.
Now that the astronomical community can again rely on pulsars for in-depth cosmic observations, experts are able to use these objects as fixed clocks spread throughout the Universe. By using them as a backdrop, they can now begin a quest for identifying gravitational waves.
“Many observatories around the world are attempting to use pulsars in order to detect the gravitational waves that are expected to be created by super-massive binary black holes in the Universe,” University of British Columbia astronomer Ingrid Stairs reveals.
“With our new technique we may be able to reveal the gravitational wave signals that are currently hidden because of the irregularities in the pulsar rotation,” she concludes.