Music of the Cosmos

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An international science team discovered compelling evidence that the universe is humming from gravitational waves reverberating throughout the cosmos, the New York Times reported.

Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time caused by spinning objects, such as black holes. Unlike other types of waves, these waves stretch and squeeze space itself.

In a series of papers, researchers detailed how they monitored pulsars – rapidly spinning stars that emit radio waves – to detect gravitational waves. According to Einstein’s theory, these waves cause slight timing variations in the pulsars’ signals.

Using a network of telescopes, they collected data from 67 pulsars over 15 years and found a collective hum at low frequencies, indicating the presence of gravitational waves.

These waves are believed to be caused by thousands of supermassive black holes merging at the centers of ancient galaxies billions of light-years away.

“I like to think of it as a choir, or an orchestra,” said Xavier Siemens, a physicist who collaborated in the finding.

Siemens and his team noted that the findings support Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity and could provide insights into the structure of the universe and the existence of exotic forms of matter.

Although not claiming a definitive discovery, the scientists are confident in the results and plan to further explore the universe through gravitational wave observations.

They added that this discovery could be groundbreaking, comparable to the revelation of the cosmic microwave background in the 1960s, which significantly advanced our knowledge of the early universe.

“This is really just the beginning of a whole new way to observe the universe,” according to astrophysicist Chiara Mingarelli, who also participated in the studies.