New AI Trick Can Pinpoint Gravitational Wave Sources in Just One Second

A team of researchers just introduced a new way of detecting gravitational wave sources that they posit could vastly improve precision of detections and expedite the detection of such enigmatic events. The team’s research, published today in the journal Nature, outlines an algorithm to study neutron star mergers’ gravitational wave emissions. Once identified, astronomers around the world could be notified of the event, allowing experts to collect as much information as possible about the fleeting, mysterious sources of gravitational waves. Let’s slow down for a moment. Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time, first predicted by Einstein over a century ago and only observed for the first time in 2015 by part of what is now the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration. Gravitational waves are generated by interactions of some of the universe’s densest objects: black holes and neutron stars. The team’s algorithm targeted neutron stars in a death spiral with one another, slowly encroaching ... Read full article.