Gravitational waves

Physicists and cosmologists will have a new probe of primordial processes when Europe launches the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) next decade.

From the smallest scales to the largest, the physical world provided no shortage of surprises this year.

Astronomers thought they had solved the mystery of gamma-ray bursts. A few recent events suggest otherwise.

Astronomers have found a background din of exceptionally long-wavelength gravitational waves pervading the cosmos.

The solutions to Einstein’s equations that describe a spinning black hole won’t blow up, even when poked or prodded.

Surprising as it may sound, 107 years after the introduction of general relativity, the meanings of basic concepts are still being worked out.

Physicists are using quantum math to understand what happens when black holes collide. In a surprise, they’ve shown that a single particle can describe a collision’s entire gravitational wave.

Physicists are devising clever new ways to exploit the extreme sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors like LIGO. But so far, they’ve seen no signs of exotica.

The “gravitational memory effect” predicts that a passing gravitational wave should forever alter the structure of space-time. Physicists have linked the phenomenon to fundamental cosmic symmetries and a potential solution to the black hole information paradox.