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Re:Rumours swirl over credibility of big bang ripple find by mrfusion on Wednesday May 14, 2014 @12:11PM (#7744499)
What would it mean if gravity waves are never found, even by equiptment we are sure should be finding them?

Are there any theories of gravity that don't include gravity waves?

Re:Rumours swirl over credibility of big bang ripple find by Udo on Wednesday May 14, 2014 @12:31PM (#7744584)
> What would it mean if gravity waves are never found, even by equiptment we are sure should be finding them?

We are currently far, far away from that point. We're just at the beginning of a long, statistics-driven process.

If gravitational waves remain elusive, that would mean there is something profoundly wrong with the way we understand relativity. To be fair, there is arguably a lot about gravity which we don't yet understand - but gravitational waves are pretty much a required feature in many respects.

For example, without them our understanding of the orbital mechanics of massive objects would have to be revised. It would mean that massive bodies orbiting each other do not lose energy due to gravitational radiation.

> Are there any theories of gravity that don't include gravity waves?

Not any credible ones that I know of, maybe someone else can present one?

Re:Rumours swirl over credibility of big bang ripple find by mrfusion on Wednesday May 14, 2014 @12:33PM (#7744596)
Would it also mean that changes from gravitational sources would affect other bodies instantaneously? Or have we already proven experimentally that's not the case?

I guess I'm saying, if gravity waves conclusively didn't exist, how would information about gravity travel?

Re:Rumours swirl over credibility of big bang ripple find by ISL on Wednesday May 14, 2014 @02:48PM (#7745436)
If gravity waves, in general, are not found, then there's a spectacular conflict between General Relativity and the Hulse-Taylor pulsar system [1]. A direct detection with earth-based detectors from a nearby inspiral is quite likely within the next decade; thousands of scientists have bet their careers on it [2].

If early-universe gravitational waves aren't found, then some major theories of inflation and cosmology will require adaptation. In the grand scheme of things, this is still a big deal, but less-so than shattering a core prediction of GR.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSR_B1913+16

[2] https://www.advancedligo.mit.edu/

Re:Rumours swirl over credibility of big bang ripple find by has2k1 on Wednesday May 14, 2014 @01:28PM (#7744906)
Without gravitational waves the statement the "fabric of space" becomes mysterious. What "fabric" if it does not fold in ways we expect it to be folding based on other observations.
Re:Rumours swirl over credibility of big bang ripple find by mmusson on Wednesday May 14, 2014 @03:16PM (#7745677)
Just to be clear, gravity waves have already been indirectly observed and the discovery led to the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics.

BICEP2 is looking for B-mode polarization on large scales in the CMB because it is believed that gravity waves created in the early universe are the only possible source.