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 white indicating weak fields and bright red indicating strong fields. 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
This movie shows the first gravitational-wave signal detected by LIGO on September 14, 2015. The simulation shows the gravitational waves produced by two orbiting black holes.
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.
