Let There Be Inflation...

[finalfugue]

Not sure where to put this, as the ramifications could mean a great deal for people interested in several of the science/physics/astronomy projects. I'm also somewhat at a loss for words except possibly... Wow.

http://www.caltech.edu/content/first-direct-evidence-inflation-and-primordial-gravitational-waves

http://bicepkeck.org/

All I want to know is- where is the project for crunching the largest map we can make from our observation point of the complete CMB curl pattern?! Simulating the patterns we can't see due to galactic plane and gas/galaxy concentration obscurity? Anything, just let me play too! This is a tremendous announcement and congratulations to the scientists who spent years working on these findings.

[Mumps]

So, I wonder what this does to Einstein@Home. One of the primary objectives for that project was to hunt out proof that Gravity waves exist...


Our long-term goal is to make the first direct detections of gravitational-wave emission from spinning neutron stars. Gravitational waves were predicted by Albert Einstein almost a century ago, but have never been directly detected. Such observations would open up a new window on the universe, and usher in a new era in astronomy.

[finalfugue]

I've been wondering that all day myself. Different facets of what is still a very complex diamond, I suppose. We've been hunting for signs on such a comparatively small scale (such as the orbital decay between binary pulsars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_pulsar)) it's been like studying the mesophyll tissue cells in a leaf to prove trees exist. Today- FOREST! Well, maybe the fossil imprint of a giant petrified forest, as these observations are evidence of something that happened in the distant past.

We still have plenty to learn about gravity waves by observing pulsars, neutron stars, black holes, and other universal oddities, so we need to keep finding them. I'm just happy to see the inflation hypothesis go from posited idea to what is probably Nobel-winning observation within my lifetime. Maybe the E@H team is just out drinking heavily in celebration of today's news... and St. Patrick's Day?

[John P. Myers]

Well Einstein still has the Pulsars and those are pretty important as well. Plus they can still keep their search going for "modern day" gravity, instead of only evidence of waves from the Big Bang - an event that isn't currently happening. On that note, there was supposed to be a trio of satellites sent out to orbit the sun, at a distance where they could communicate with each other. Their sole mission was to detect gravity waves. Lost track of whether they were ever launched or not.

[finalfugue]

JPM I believe you are talking about the LISA project. Her fate was... not good.

http://lisa.nasa.gov/cosmic_vision_changes.html

There was hope the project might have lived on eventually as the NGO thanks to the Europeans.

http://sci.esa.int/lisa/48728-mission-status/

And then, well:

http://sci.esa.int/ngo/

Yeah, she didn't make it.