6 years ago
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Gravitational Waves Are Permanently Warping The Fabric of Space-Time
Researchers have proposed a method for detecting exotic events in physics by looking for the scars they leave behind on the fabric of space.
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Isn't that kind of the definition of gravitational waves?
I think it's the "permanent" part of the warping that is new.
It's a bit weird to use the word "permanent" when talking about spacetime thought. If time is part of what is warped, then isn't it permanent by definition? As in, we can't change it because we'd have to travel in time to do it?
I can't begin to follow the math involved in anything relating to relativity, but I don't think you can think of time separately when talking about things at the fundamental level of gravity waves.
Think of the ball on the rubber sheet depiction of how mass warps spacetime. Gravity waves passing through that depiction permanently alter it in some way. I couldn't begin to know how but I guess what they are getting at is that that than a sine (gravity) wave passing through, bending and returning to it's previous state, it leaves behind a change (an echo perhaps?) Being able to somehow see those changes would let the really bright folks theorize and prove some more things I don't understand.