Gabriela González: How LIGO discovered gravitational waves -- and what might be next
Gabriela Gonsalesa: Kā LIGO atklāja gravitācijas viļņus
Gabriela González is part of the collaboration of more than 1,000 scientists who measured for the first time the gravitational waves that Einstein predicted over 100 years ago. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
his theory of general relativity,
savu vispārīgās relativitātes teoriju,
kas izskaidro gravitāciju.
the planets -- attracts mass,
planētas – savstarpēji pievelkas,
as Newton claimed,
kā apgalvoja Ņūtons,
all of us, all the planets --
visi mēs, visas planētas –
of space-time.
and that connects us all.
and distort its contour.
not according to Newton's laws,
nevis pēc Ņūtona likumiem,
this space-time curvature
šos laiktelpas izliekumus
nestles up to us
mūsu gultasbiedrs vai biedrene,
when masses move,
revolve around one another
which carry energy from the system,
un liek zvaigznēm savstarpēji tuvoties.
to measure them.
simtiem zinātnieku darbam,
working in many countries
strādājuši vairākās valstīs,
waves for the first time.
pirmoreiz atklājām.
around one another --
accelerating in speed,
at almost the speed of light,
into the space of 360 kilometers.
produced gravitational waves
radīja gravitācijas viļņus,
to the rest of the universe.
par šo kosmisko apskāvienu
the effects of these gravitational waves,
atklāšana prasīja daudz laika,
is by looking for effects in distances.
ģeogrāfiskos garumus, attālumus.
passed by Earth,
pilnīgi visos attālumos,
the distances between you and me,
attālumos starp jums un mani,
stretched and shrank a tiny bit.
pastiepās un sarāvās.
is proportional to the distance.
ir proporcionāla attālumam.
than my slight height,
lielāki par manu pieticīgo augumu,
between the Earth and the Sun
bija daži fiziķi sapņotāji –
at Caltech and MIT --
measure distances
iespējams precīzi izmērīt,
distances between mirrors
attālumu starp spoguļiem,
atstatumā viens no otra.
and many scientists
un daudz zinātnieku,
and develop the ideas.
attīstītu idejas,
wave detectors, two interferometers,
detektoru būvniecība,
kas no centra ceļo
through four kilometers in-vacuum,
and then they return.
very, very sensitive;
ir ļoti, ļoti, ļoti jutīgi,
instruments in the world.
that we want to measure come from space,
nāk no kosmosa,
the gravitational wave effects --
gravitācijas viļņu ietekmi,
and should show up on the two detectors --
un kam jāparādās abos detektoros,
from the local effects,
no vietējās ietekmes,
either on one or the other.
the second-generation technology
otrās paaudzes tehnoloģiju
sensitivity that we wanted --
optimālo jutīgumu,
two years later --
dažus mēnešus ievākt datus.
collecting a few months' worth of data.
un frekvence pieauga
in amplitude and frequency
in decoding this type of wave,
that they came from black holes
no melnajiem caurumiem,
ka tas varētu notikt jau tagad.
this would happen until much later;
ourselves that it was true,
lai par to pārliecinātos,
any room for error.
visas iespējamās kļūdas.
really could measure these things,
šīs lietas izmērīt,
vēl vienu gravitācijas vilni,
produced a difference in the distance
radīja attāluma atšķirību,
bija četras tūkstošdaļas no protona liela.
joprojām ļoti pārliecinošs.
by our standards.
waves and not sound waves,
and listen to them.
skaļruņos un paklausīties.
to the first two notes of that music.
was the last fraction of a second
pēdējā sekundes daļa,
emitted vast amounts of energy --
converting into energy,
cik radītu trīs saules,
we actually dance to it.
be used for?
what else is there left to do?"
be used for?
"What is the purpose of poetry?"
of the smell of coffee?"
it's for emotion, it's for living."
tā vajadzīga, lai dzīvotu.”
uzzināt, kā viss darbojas,
how everything works,
all of us, everyone, as kids --
for the first time and see the stars,
now have a purpose,
a new way to explore the universe.
Visuma pētīšanai.
the light of the stars
to the sound of the universe,
like gravitational waves.
gaismu, piemēram, gravitācijas viļņi.
from gravitational waves?
var iegūt kādu tehnoloģiju?
the technology to detect them,
ka tie kaut kam noder.
that they are useful.
to derive technology from science,
vajadzīgs daudz laika,
more and more sensitive --
more black holes
vairāk melno caurumu
how many there are, where they are
lai zinātu, cik to ir, kur tie atrodas,
and turn into black holes.
neitronu zvaigžņu saplūšanu,
rotating stars in our galaxy
rotējošas zvaignzes mūsu galaktikā,
explosions of supernovas in our galaxy.
pārnovu sprādzienus mūsu galaktikā.
a whole spectrum of new sources.
veselu jaunu avotu spektru.
to the human body:
pievienojuši jaunu spēju:
to silent movies.
very fun, but very long --
international community of scientists,
starptautiskā zinātnieku kopiena,
together as a team,
sometimes encountering detours --
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Gabriela González - AstrophysicistGabriela González is part of the collaboration of more than 1,000 scientists who measured for the first time the gravitational waves that Einstein predicted over 100 years ago.
Why you should listen
Gabriela González is a physicist working on the discovery of gravitational waves with the LIGO team. She was born in Córdoba, Argentina, studied physics at the University of Córdoba, and pursued her PhD at Syracuse University, which obtained in 1995. She worked as a staff scientist in the LIGO group at MIT until 1997, when she joined the faculty at Penn State. In 2001 she joined the faculty at LSU, where she is a professor of physics and astronomy. She has received awards from the American Physical Society, the American Astronomical Society and the National Academy of Sciences, and she is a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
González has been a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration since it was funded in 1997, served as the elected LSC spokesperson in 2011-2017, and is known for participating in the announcement of the discovery of gravitational waves in 2016. Her work has focused on LIGO instrument development (especially reducing noise sources and tuning alignment systems) and LIGO data calibration and diagnostics, critical to increasing the astrophysical reach of data analysis methods.
Gabriela González | Speaker | TED.com