A Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) technician installing a mode cleaner tube baffle as part of the advanced LIGO auxiliary optics system that is used to control stray light. Photo Credit: LIGO Laboratory/Special Arrangements
In the distant universe, black holes merge, supernovae explode, neutron stars collide. Such massive events create cosmic ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. In 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO for short) observed this phenomenon for the first time, expanding our understanding of the universe around us. Now, the United States National Science Foundation is partnering with top American universities and India’s Raja Ramanna Center for Advanced Technology, or RRCAT (a unit of the Indian government’s Department of Atomic Energy). Lego-IndiaAn unprecedented collaboration, driven by $320 million in investment from India, that will accelerate discovery and innovation in India and around the world.
Albert Einstein’s 1916 general theory of relativity first predicted the occurrence of gravitational waves. But it took another century for physicists to prove Einstein right by observing them directly. Much of the history of astronomy has been accomplished by observing light and the electromagnetic spectrum – everything from radio waves to infrared and visible light to high-energy X-rays and gamma rays – but gravitational waves are fundamentally different; They are ripples in space-time, the fabric of the universe itself.
In 2015, for the first time in human history, physicists observed gravitational waves emanating from two merging black holes 1.3 million light-years from Earth. This Nobel Prize-winning breakthrough was accomplished by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, better known as LIGO, a research initiative that the US National Science Foundation first began investing in in the late 1970s.
experiment over observatory
LIGO is the world’s largest gravitational wave observatory, a scientific collaboration and engineering marvel that includes two facilities in the United States, one in the Pacific Northwest in Hanford, Washington, and the other near the Gulf of Mexico in Livingston, Louisiana. LIGO uses lasers to detect ripples in space-time through a method called interferometry: as gravitational waves pass through, they cause space itself to stretch and squeeze, which scientists can detect in the beams of LIGO lasers. Can measure through change.
More than an observatory, LIGO is an experiment of pre-eminent scale and complexity. The data collected by LIGO has far-reaching implications for many areas of physics. LIGO has provided new clues about merging black holes, the existence of neutron stars, and the origin of the universe. This has opened up an entirely new way of looking at the universe – astronomers have been studying the light from the universe for thousands of years, but now we can “hear” the universe through gravitational waves as well.
This is why I applaud the recent announcement of an investment of $320 million in LIGO-India. Just as LIGO in the US has become a resource for students, researchers and educators in local communities, LIGO-India will create new opportunities in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district. Projects like LIGO-India can create jobs in the technical workforce, open new avenues for scientific talent and inspire the next generation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) leaders.
benefit from cooperation
By joining the global network, i.e. two LIGO detectors in the US, Virgo in Italy and the Kamioka Gravitational-Wave Detector (KAGRA) in Japan, LIGO-India will help advance the frontiers of science and technology. Unlock some of the greatest mysteries of the universe.
LIGO-India is a collaboration between the LIGO Laboratory – operated by Caltech and MIT and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) – and India’s RRCAT, Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA ), and the Department of Atomic Energy Directorate of Construction, Services and Estate Management (DCSEM).
The creation of LIGO-India is a major milestone for the universal progress of gravitational wave science and science beyond borders. The observatory will help answer some of the most fundamental questions about the universe. And through collaboration with like-minded partners, it will provide current and aspiring scientists with a broad window into the universe while inspiring the next generation.
Sethuraman Panchanathan is the director of the United States National Science Foundation