How gravitational waves could generate radio signals

The radio signals produced by passing gravitational waves could make them easier to detect

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Any time now, the folks at the gravitational wave detector LIGO expect to come across conclusive evidence that their search is over. If the theorists have their numbers right, the machine should spot a passing gravitational wave sometime in the next year or so.

LIGO works by watching for the tell-tale squeezing and stretching of space as gravitational waves pass by. But might there be another way to spot these waves?

For some 40 years now, various physicists have pointed out that gravity waves ought to produce electromagnetic waves. Today, Peter Hogan and Shane O'Farrell at University College Dublin in Ireland resurrect the idea.

Full article here:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23551/

To quote:

"About 1 per cent of the noise you see on the screen of a badly-tuned analogue TV is the cosmic background radiation -- the echo of the Big Bang. Wouldn't it be cool to know that your old Sony Trinitron could also tune into the sound of black holes colliding."