Binary Black Holes can Unlock Another of Einstein's Predictions: by BrianKoberlein
In the grand scheme of things, the structure of a black hole is pretty simple. All you need to know is its mass, electric charge, and rotation, and you know what the structure of space and time around the black hole must be. But if you have two black holes orbiting each other, then things get really complicated. Unlike a single black hole, for which there is an exact solution to Einstein’s equations, there is no exact solution for two black holes. It’s similar to thein Newtonian gravity.
One recent study suggests this is true. In it, the team looked at gravitational-wave data from known black hole mergers, and found that their rotations tend to be parallel or anti-parallel. Given the small sample size, and the fact that black hole binary rotations are never exactly aligned, there isn’t enough data to confirm the effect, but the data we have points in that direction.
One of the challenges to measuring black hole spin is that the signal is rather weak. The gravitational waves we measure from distant black hole mergers are so faint that it’s easy to get lost in the noise. Observatories such as LIGO and Virgo need to make extremely sensitive measurements, and their data must be filtered through computer models. Its the combination of data processing and computer simulation that makes the mergers detectable.
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