New type of GRAVITATIONAL WAVES detected! Are they from NEW PHYSICS or merging SMBHs?!

[Valin]

Jul 6, 2023

The BIG news in physics is that a new type of gravitational wave has been detected using pulsar timing arrays. In this video we’re chatting about what a pulsar timing array actually is, what’s been found, and why the gravitational waves might be from pairs of supermassive black holes orbiting each other, but there’s evidence that they could be from new physics processes occurring in the early Universe…

(Snip)

00:00 - Introduction

01:48 - What is a pulsar timing array?

04:47 - How are these gravitational waves different to the ones detected by LIGO?

06:33 - What are the pulsar timing arrays looking for?

09:37 - What does the data look like?

13:11 - Are these gravitational waves from pairs of supermassive black holes?

16:02 - OR Is there evidence for NEW PHYSICS?

21:34 - What's next then?

23:29 - Bloopers