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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First observation of gravitational waves | 6/6 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_observation_of_gravitational_waves | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T10:01:16.701964+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Speed of gravitational waves and limit on possible mass of graviton === The speed of gravitational waves (vg) is predicted by general relativity to be the speed of light (c). The extent of any deviation from this relationship can be parameterized in terms of the mass of the hypothetical graviton. The graviton is the name given to an elementary particle that would act as the force carrier for gravity, in quantum theories about gravity. It is expected to be massless if, as it appears, gravitation has an infinite range. (This is because the more massive a gauge boson is, the shorter is the range of the associated force; as with the infinite range of electromagnetism, which is due to the massless photon, the infinite range of gravity implies that any associated force-carrying particle would also be massless.) If the graviton were not massless, gravitational waves would propagate below lightspeed, with lower frequencies (ƒ) being slower than higher frequencies, leading to dispersion of the waves from the merger event. No such dispersion was observed. The observations of the inspiral slightly improve (lower) the upper limit on the mass of the graviton from Solar System observations to 2.1×10−58 kg, corresponding to 1.2×10−22 eV/c2 or a Compton wavelength (λg) of greater than 1013 km, roughly 1 light-year. Using the lowest observed frequency of 35 Hz, this translates to a lower limit on vg such that the upper limit on 1-vg /c is ~ 4×10−19.
== See also ==
Gravitational-wave astronomy – Branch of astronomy using gravitational waves Gravitational-wave observatory – Device used to measure gravitational waves List of gravitational wave observations Timeline of gravitational physics and relativity
== Notes ==
== References ==
== Further reading == Calandrelli, Emily; Escher, Anna (16 December 2016). "The top 15 events that happened in space in 2016". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
== External links ==
GW150914 data release by the LIGO Open Science Center Gravitational wave modelling of GW150914 Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine by the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics "First detection!" (PDF). LIGO Magazine. No. 8. March 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016. Video: GW150914 discovery press conference (71:29) by the National Science Foundation (11 February 2016) Video: "The hunters – the detection of gravitational waves" (11:47) by the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (22 February 2016) Video: "LIGO Hears Gravitational Waves Einstein Predicted" (4:36) by Dennis Overbye, The New York Times (11 February 2016)