Dead stars could help astronomers detect subtle ripples in spacetime

摘要

Denver-A bunch of dead stars could serve as ready-made recorders for gravitational waves - subtle ripples in spacetime that if discovered would be the crowning achievement of Einstein's theory of general relativity, astronomers propose. Researchers have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to perfect sensitive devices on the ground and launch even more sophisticated experiments in space to detect this cosmic symphony.rnThe new search technique would instead rely on radio waves generated like clockwork by millisecond pulsars - the collapsed remnants of massive stars that spin about once every one to 10 milliseconds. The speed at which these pulsars rotate enables researchers to measure the timing of the radio waves' arrival at Earth with high accuracy.