Direct detection of gravitational waves
LIGO Scientific CollaborationVirgo Collaboration
This page delivers no verdict; it presents claims and evidence with their sources. No theory in science is absolute. Method
For everyone
According to general relativity, colliding black holes create ripples in spacetime. On 14 September 2015 the LIGO detectors recorded such a signal from the merger of two black holes 1.3 billion light-years away. The result was announced in February 2016. Hundreds of similar events have been observed since.
For specialists
The GW150914 signal was recorded by two laser interferometers with 4 km arms at a strain amplitude of about 10⁻²¹, 7 ms apart. It matched a numerical-relativity waveform for the merger of black holes of about 36 and 29 solar masses. The significance exceeds 5.1σ. The 2017 neutron-star merger GW170817 was observed together with its electromagnetic counterparts, showing that gravitational waves travel at the speed of light to about 10⁻¹⁵.
Claims
- Gravitational waves exist and have the form predicted by general relativity.[1]
Evidence
Supporting
Two detectors 3,000 km apart recorded the same waveform with a delay consistent with light travel time.[1]
Challenging
An independent group claimed to find unexpected correlations in the noise of the two detectors; the LIGO team and other analyses argued these do not affect the result.[2]
Connections
Sources
- Article (2016). Observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger. Physical Review Letters 116, 061102DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102archive
- Article (2017). On the time lags of the LIGO signals. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 2017(08), 013DOI 10.1088/1475-7516/2017/08/013archive
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Cite this page
Athena contributors. (2026). Direct detection of gravitational waves. Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/kutlecekim-dalgalari/
@misc{athena_kutlecekim_dalgalari,
title = {Direct detection of gravitational waves},
author = {{Athena contributors}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/kutlecekim-dalgalari/}},
note = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}Added: September 27, 2026 · Last changed: September 28, 2026 · Page history