G-waves - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: Merging of central black holes following collision of two galaxies

Explanation:
Gravitational waves are formed around 10 million years after two galaxies collide and the central black holes merge which is around 100 times faster than previously thought, according to a new study.

• Gravitational waves were detected for the first time earlier this year, a century after Albert Einstein predicted the phenomenon in his General Theory of Relativity
• It was not possible to predict the point at which g-waves are triggered and spread through space when galaxies merge before this
• International group of astrophysicists from Zurich University, Institute of Space Technology (Pakistan) and University of Heidelberg (Germany) and Chinese Academy of Sciences have made this calculation for the first time using extensive simulation
• Galaxies have supermassive black holes in the core, which has millions or billions of solar masses
• In a realistic simulation of the universe, merging of two roughly 3 billion year old galaxies lying relatively close to one another was simulated
• Assisted by supercomputers, researchers have calculated the time two central black holes with around 100 million solar masses needed to emit strong gravitational waves after galaxies collided
• Merging of the two black holes has triggered the first gravitational waves after 10 million years- around 100 times faster than previously assumed
• Simulation study conducted required an innovative computational approach with various numerical codes on different supercomputers
• In the process, each supercomputer was responsible for calculating a certain phase of the orbital convergence of two massive black holes and their parent galaxies
• Relations between orbits of the central black holes and the realistic structure of the parent galaxies was factored into the present stimulation