Gravitational Waves, the Next E-M Spectrum?

We are bounded in a nutshell of Infinite Space: Free Form #2: Gravitational Waves, the Next E-M Spectrum?

In 1915, Albert Einstein published his theory of general relativity, the basis for the future of Astrophysics, although few saw it this way at the time. For decades, general relativity was just a mathematical concept physicists considered enjoyable to wonder at, hardly ever perceiving the importance it would have in describing the universe. General relativity predicted the nature of the Space-Time Fabric, a description of a three-dimensional structure which related time, space, and the interactions of masses and electromagnetism with it. Mass creates gravitational fields, undulations in the fabric of space time which curves it and causes significant effects to light and time. Furthermore, mass con be concentrated in infinitely small spaces, where the density goes to infinity, otherwise known as a black hole, which have severe effects on the universe such as gravitational lensing (like microlensing, if you’ll remember from previous posts, but more drastic), and becoming the center of galaxies, permitting other systems like our planet to eventually develop. 

Moreover, one of the predictions of the General Relativity is the creation of Gravitational Waves (imagine a stone being dropped in a pond, the waves that emerge from that incident are analogous to gravitational waves) from virtually any object with mass. However, these waves are all but nonexistent in what we consider “normal” settings, and as such need to be looked for in other, more elaborate systems which could yield an actual result. Gravitational Waves are propagating tidal forces of gravity which stretch and compact the space-time fabric after it has been exposed to a perturbation, and for it to be noticeable it needs to be something in the range of binary neutron star systems and Black Hole collisions. These events are large enough to create noticeable distortions in the fabric, enough that we may, perhaps, detect them directly. Indirectly however, Hulse and Taylor discovered a binary pulsar star system in 1974 which required the influence of gravitational waves for the rotation model to fit best with the observations, a feat which earned them the 1993 Nobel Prize. 

Nevertheless, in recent years more instruments have been created to accurately measure distortions in Space-time in the order of \(10^{-22} m ,\) at present.  These detectors are called LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) and Advanced LIGO, and by means of a set of mirrors and detectors several kilometers in length, they are designed to detect the smallest possible changes in length which could show evidence of gravitational waves. (Check a 10:40 AM press release from the LIGO team on Thursday, February 11, 2016, to see what they learned.) Moreover, of we were to find gravitational waves, it opens up a completely new field of astronomy observation which can be fine-tuned to effectively measure Black Hole mass, energy outputs, and better understand the fabric of space-time itself. Gravitational waves could very well be as diverse as the E-M spectrum, letting us interpret a completely new way to look at the universe, and slowly come to understand it better. 

References:

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1993/press.html

Carrol & Ostlie; 2007; pp. 688, 703

https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/