Black Hole’s existence has been an interesting topic for many. With new experiments every now and then, astrophysicists have claimed for the first time that they have heard a black hole ringing like a bell.
The findings were published titled ‘Testing the No-Hair Theorem with GW150914’ in the journal APS Physics.
The astrophysicists have found that when two black holes merge into one, the resulting supersized black hole wobbles like a struck bell. This reverberation emits gravitational waves at characteristic tones, which fade away as the black hole settles.
The ‘no-hair theory’ states that these tones depend only on the black hole’s mass and rotation. If you recall, this claim is similar to Einstein’s predictions in this theory of general relativity, made in 1915.
“Previously it was believed these tones were too faint to be detected, yet now we are able to,” said study co-author Will Farr, adding, “Just like the measurement of atomic spectra in the late 1800s opened the era of stellar astrophysics and classifying and understanding stars, this is the opening of the era of black hole spectra and understanding black holes and the general relativity that sits behind them.”
Farr is an associate professor at Stony Brook University in New York and group leader for gravitational wave astronomy at the Flatiron Institute‘s Center for Computational Astrophysics.
The collision of two black holes was detected for the first time by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) experiment in 2015, where it was found that it produces a new supermassive black hole and sends gravitational waves.
Black Hole, the biggest astrophysics theory has always been in news, and keeps affirming and negating Einstein’s theory now and then. However, Einstein proposed 104-years back that black holes can be fully described by just their mass and rate of spin.