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gravitational waves

A white wave on a black background.
quantum physics

Massive Black Holes Shown to Act Like Quantum Particles

By Charlie Wood
March 29, 2022
Read Later

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.

A red laser beam enters a glass cube and splits in two; half of the beam continues straight ahead and the other half shoots out of the glass cube at a right angle.
particle physics

A New Tool for Finding Dark Matter Digs Up Nothing

By Thomas Lewton
March 21, 2022
Read Later

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.

fundamental physics

Gravitational Waves Should Permanently Distort Space-Time

By Katie McCormick
December 8, 2021
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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.

A looping image of two black holes orbiting one another, with the second one smaller than the first.
mathematical physics

New Black Hole Math Closes Cosmic Blind Spot

By Steve Nadis
May 13, 2021
Read Later

A mathematical shortcut for analyzing black hole collisions works even in cases where it shouldn’t. As astronomers use it to search for new classes of hidden black holes, others wonder: Why?

Black holes on a blue swirly background.
Abstractions blog

Growing Inventory of Black Holes Offers a Radical Probe of the Cosmos

By Thomas Lewton
February 17, 2021
Read Later

One black hole is nice, but astrophysicists can do a lot more science with 50 of them.

Spheres of three different sizes.
Abstractions blog

Debate Erupts Over How ‘Forbidden’ Black Holes Grow

By Adam Mann
November 3, 2020
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Once missing in action, middleweight black holes have finally been detected. Now researchers are trying to figure out how they grow from small ones.

Stringy filaments wiggling against a black background.
Abstractions blog

Some Physicists See Signs of Cosmic Strings From the Big Bang

By Thomas Lewton
September 29, 2020
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Subtle aberrations in the clockwork blinking of stars could become “the result of the century.” That’s if the distortions are produced by a network of giant filaments left over from the birth of the universe.

Black holes of various sizes
black holes

Physicists Argue That Black Holes From the Big Bang Could Be the Dark Matter

By Joshua Sokol
September 23, 2020
Read Later

It was an old idea of Stephen Hawking’s: Unseen “primordial” black holes might be the hidden dark matter. A new series of studies has shown how the theory can work.

An apple being jostled by gravitons
gravitational waves

How the Bits of Quantum Gravity Can Buzz

By Thomas Lewton
July 23, 2020
Read Later

New calculations show how hypothetical particles called gravitons would give rise to a special kind of noise.


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