This is what black holes sound like
When two black holes merge, gravitational waves are emitted.
Source: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images
Gravitational waves are an abstract phenomenon. Almost no one can imagine space-time distortions. An artist and composer are making the waves emitted by merging black holes tangible.
TOOn September 14, 2015, scientists were able to measure gravitational waves for the first time and thus prove their existence. About 100 years earlier, Albert Einstein had deduced the existence of these waves from the formulas of the general theory of relativity, but he himself did not believe that these small distortions of cosmic space-time could ever be measured. Advances, especially in laser technology, eventually made it possible to build detectors that could pick up such signals.
Thus, the two LIGO gravitational wave detectors in the USA, 3,000 kilometers away from each other, recorded signals in the correct time interval whose shape was exactly what was expected according to theoretical calculations. Based on these models, the researchers were able to determine in the next step that the measured gravitational wave was caused by two black holes that were emitted 1.3 billion light years away from us.
These two gravity monsters spiraled around each other, getting closer and closer to each other and finally merging to form a black hole. From the frequencies of the gravitational waves emitted during this process, physicists were able to calculate that the two black holes had 29 and 36 solar masses, respectively, before they merged.
The first direct detection of gravitational waves (the signal was called GW150914) was a scientific sensation. Not only because, after a century, it confirmed the general theory of relativity, but also because it opened a completely new window on the observation of cosmic processes.
Physicist Keith Thorne at the LIGO control center (scene from the movie “Gravity’s Tune”)
Source: Annika Kahrs & Producer Gallery Hamburg (2023)
Measuring gravitational waves has become routine and such a signal is received from the depths of space every three days on average. Whenever large masses accelerate strongly, they emit some energy in the form of gravitational waves. Characteristic gravitational waves are also emitted when two neutron stars merge, or between a black hole and a neutron star.
When two massive objects in space merge, they become faster and faster as they get closer, causing the frequency of the gravitational wave to get higher and higher before the signal falls silent after the merger occurs. fusion. The nature of gravitational waves and acoustic waves is completely different. However, the wavelengths of gravitational waves emitted by merging black holes are typically in a frequency range that, relative to sound waves, is audible to the human ear.
Gravitational wave researchers immediately had the idea that this analogy could be used to illustrate the phenomenon. They use a computer to convert the measured gravitational wave frequencies into corresponding electrical signals, which can then be used to acoustically experience a gravitational wave using speakers.
Physicist Keith Thorne conducts the music for “Tschirp” (scene from the film “Gravity’s Tune”)
Source: Annika Kahrs & Producer Gallery Hamburg (2023)
The increasing increase in sound frequency creates a characteristic “tschirp” sound, which inspired artist Annika Kahrs to create a video work. Together with composer Louis d’Heudières and Los Angeles musicians, she musically interpreted the “tschirp” sounds of various cosmic fusion events.
The film “Gravity’s Tune” opens an artistic and poetic approach to the physical phenomenon of gravitational waves. The film-music debate is scientifically accompanied by Keith Thorne, who works as a physicist at LIGO. He calls the LIGO Research Institute the “quietest concert hall” in the world. Because during the highly sensitive measurement of gravitational waves with laser spectrometers, all kinds of ground noise can be disturbing.
In Kahr’s film, Thorne stands both in LIGO’s control room and in front of the orchestra on the conductor’s podium. There he dignifiedly announces: Listen to GW150914 now! The video work “Gravity’s Tune” was created as part of the artist’s 2021 Villa Aurora fellowship in Los Angeles and was made possible by the MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and the Schering Foundation.
Presentation of the work “Gravity’s Tune” in the exhibition room of the Schering Foundation in Berlin
Source: Schering Foundation / Jens Ziehe
The symbiosis between physics and culture can be experienced in the exhibition space of the Schering Foundation in Berlin (Unter den Linden 32-34) until November 26, 2023. Free admission.
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