The Environment Ministry of India recently greenlit a project that would allow scientists to test the appropriateness of land in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district for hosting the ambitious Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) project. Envisioned to be completed and operational by 2025, this project is designed to detect even the faintest cosmic explosions from millions of light years away using a specialized network of L-shaped arms that stretch for four kilometers each.
The LIGO India Project
LIGO India is an upcoming advanced gravitational-wave observatory that makes up part of a global network. The LIGO project currently operates three gravitational-wave (GW) detectors, two of which are situated at Hanford in the State of Washington, north-western USA, and one at Livingston in Louisiana, south-eastern USA.
The international collaboration behind the LIGO-India project involves three leading institutions from the LIGO-India consortium: Institute of Plasma Research, Gandhinagar; IUCAA, Pune; and Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore.
Significance of the LIGO India Project
The information obtained from these waves could help solve enduring questions and mysteries about physics and astronomy. Additionally, it will place the Indian scientific community in a key position in the burgeoning research frontier of GW astronomy.
The high-end engineering requirements of the project will unlock unprecedented opportunities for Indian industries to collaborate with academic research institutions. Its multidisciplinary nature can brings together academics and professionals from fields like optics, lasers, gravitational physics, astronomy and astrophysics, cosmology, computational science, mathematics, and various branches of engineering.
Moreover, this cutting-edge project has the potential to interest and inspire students and young scientists due to its advanced local focus.
Understanding Gravitational Waves
Gravitational waves are distortions or ‘ripples’ in the fabric of space-time caused by incredibly violent and energetic processes in the universe. They transfer energy as gravitational radiation and move through matter without interacting with it.
Predicted by Albert Einstein as part of his Theory of General Relativity in 1916, gravitational waves are produced by some of the most enigmatic entities in our universe like black holes, supernova, neutron stars, and the Big Bang.
Notes on Key Sources of Gravitational Waves
- Black Holes: A black hole is a place in space where gravity is so powerful that even light can’t escape. This happens when matter has been condensed into an extremely small space, such as when a star is dying.
- Supernova: A supernova denotes the explosion of a star, the largest known explosion to occur in space. It occurs when there is a change in the core, or center, of a star.
- Neutron Stars: Neutron stars are one of the potential evolutionary end-points of high mass stars. After the core of the star has completely converted to iron, energy production stops and the core rapidly collapses, forcing electrons and protons together to form neutrons and neutrinos.
- Big Bang: The Big Bang Theory provides the leading explanation of how the universe started. At its simplest, it suggests that the universe began as a small singularity, then inflated over the next 13.8 billion years into the cosmos we know today.
