Researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Science and Engineering co-led the research with an international team.The research aims to send out informs to astronomers and astrophysicists within 30 seconds after the detection, helping to enhance the understanding of neutron stars and black holes and how heavy elements, consisting of gold and uranium, are produced.The findings were recently released in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), a peer-reviewed, open gain access to, clinical journal.Gravitational Wave Detection TechnologyGravitational waves connect with spacetime by compressing it in one instructions while stretching it in the perpendicular instructions. Credit: Andrew ToivonenEnhancements in Gravitational Wave DetectionThis research is part of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration, a network of gravitational wave interferometers throughout the world.In the newest simulation campaign, data was utilized from previous observation durations and simulated gravitational wave signals were included to show the performance of the software and equipment upgrades. Neutron stars are the tiniest, most dense stars known to exist and are formed when huge stars explode in supernovas.Real-time Alerts and Observational AdvancesOnce this software application finds a gravitational wave signal, it sends out alerts to subscribers, which normally include astrophysicists or astronomers, to interact where the signal was located in the sky.
