Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
The first binary black-hole merger observed by LIGO
Numerical-relativity simulations of the first binary black-hole merger observed by the Advanced LIGO detector on September 14, 2015.
The first binary black-hole merger observed by LIGO
The simulation shows the gravitational waves produced by two orbiting black holes. The strength of the gravitational wave is indicated by elevation as well as colour, with dark red indicating weak fields and pale yellow indicating strong fields. The yellow tubes show cross sections of the past location and shape of the black holes as they spiral towards each other. The movie shows the process in slow motion: For two black holes with about 29 and 36 solar masses, the whole animation would last approximately 1 second from beginning to end and the frequency of the gravitational waves would start from 19 Hz just below the human audible range and increase as the black holes approach each other.
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Copyright: Numerical relativity simulation: S. Ossokine, A. Buonanno (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics), Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes project Scientific Visualisation: R. Haas (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics)
You can find this video on YouTube. Click on the image to be redirected there.
Simulation of GW150914
The simulation shows the gravitational waves produced by two orbiting black holes. The strength of the gravitational wave is indicated by elevation as well as colour, with dark red indicating weak fields and pale yellow indicating strong fields.
Numerical relativity simulation of two inspiralling black holes that merge to form a new black hole. Shown are the gravitational waves produced and cross sections of the past location and shape of the black holes as they spiral towards each other.
Copyright: Numerical relativity simulation: S. Ossokine, A. Buonanno (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics), Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes project Scientific Visualisation: R. Haas (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics)
Scientists have studied what happens when two stellar-mass black holes merge near a more massive black hole. They have calculated how strong space-time curvature modifies the gravitational waveforms and how this might be detected in future observations.
A new general-relativistic viscous-radiation hydrodynamics simulation indicates that rotating stellar collapses of massive stars to a black hole surrounded by a massive torus can be a central engine for high-energy supernovae, so-called hypernovae.
