It has been flooded with rumors today Internet about the possible discovery of gravitational waves for the first time, by an American team of astrophysicists.
Rumors have been sparked by Harvard University's astronomy center announcement that next Tuesday at 18: 00 Greece will announce a scientific breakthrough in a press conference, without giving any further information.
From that point on, on social media and in the newsgraphics πρακτορεία υπήρξαν αρκετές εικασίες για το ποια θα μπορούσε να είναι η ανακάλυψη, με τους πιο ευφάνταστους να μιλάνε για την detection of life in space, but the opinion quickly prevailed that the news would be related to the discovery of gravitational waves, an idea derived from Albert Einstein's equations describing space and time.
According to the theory of Relativity, nothing is transmitted faster than the light, and this even applies to forces, such as gravity. Einstein's theory describes gravity through the curvature of space-time caused by mass and energy, and according to it, it is transmitted by gravitational waves, which are essentially wrinkles in the structure of space-time.
Because gravity is a very weak force, the detection of these waves has proven to be a very difficult task, and it is certainly impossible with technical means on Earth.
However, it has been suggested in the past that the detection of gravitational waves could be achieved by studying the polarization in radiation background, the aftermath of the Big Bang that created the Universe 13.8 billion years ago.
According to inflationary theory, the prevailing view of the evolution of the Universe, the Big Bang was followed by a brief period in which the Universe grew exponentially in size. From the main ones forecasts of the said theory, is the imprinting of the gravitational waves in the background radiation spectrum, which in the first moments of the Universe were much stronger due to the high energies that prevailed.
Given that Harvard's astronomy center houses the BICEP2 experiment, which is dedicated to studying polarization of background radiation, it is very likely that astrophysicists have identified the gravitational imprint of the early Universe.
If this information is confirmed, it will be one of the most important discoveries of the last century that will surely make sense. Next update will follow on Monday.