“Indian scientists continue to make important contributions to this new frontier of astronomy”

Since the first direct observation of gravitational waves (GW) by LIGO in 2015, which won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017, GW Science has seen significant and rapid advances. In the context of the recent major discovery of a new source of gravitational waves (fusion of neutron stars and black holes), a webinar was held on Friday to focus on India’s contributions to different aspects of GW science.

The webinar hosted by LIGO-India, “Recent Milestones in Gravitational Wave Astronomy,” brought together key experts from various scientific institutions who made presentations. “Due to advanced techniques and a global network of GW detectors, we are now at a point where we are seeing two GW candidates every week. Indian scientists have made and continue to make important contributions to this new frontier in astronomy, ”Professor Somak Raychaudhury, Director of IUCAA, told the media during the webinar.

In his presentation, Dr Anupreeta More of IUCAA said that on May 13 of this year, the LIGO-Virgo-Kagra Collaboration of GW Detectors announced the results of GW lens research, Bending GW by gravity itself.

“So far there have been no promising candidate lenses (which is in line with our expectations), but even the lack of detectable lens effects has already improved our knowledge of the compact binary fusion rate in the distant universe, “said Dr More.