4 ms·
I couldn't see it in the post, but I'm interested in how much this specific event, and future events, allow us to tighten the bounds on our models. It's mentio
by Cogito 11y ago
I couldn't see it in the post, but I'm interested in how much this specific event, and future events, allow us to tighten the bounds on our models.
It's mentioned a few times that the size of the black holes/other model parameters were "within expectations" and so were a good fit.
What are some of the specific quantities that these measurements will allow us to refine? Previous astronomical measurements have allowed us to put better and better estimates on things like the size of the sun, or the gravitational constant - do we have any idea what estimates this technology will allow us to improve?
- topquark 11y agoIn http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.03840 http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.03840 we describe the various parameters that we were able to measure for this signal, and in http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.03841 http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.03841 we compare the results to the predictions from general relativity. In Figs 6 and 7 of the second paper you can see the constraints from GW150914 on what are known as the "post-Newtonian" expansion terms of Newtonian gravity. Previously, terms beyond first order were only loosed bound, mostly from observations of the Double Pulsar system J0737-3039. Just from this one event, we can also constrain the mass of the graviton to an order of magnitude less than the previous best measurement.