Can gravitational waves pass through a black hole? Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara Planned maintenance scheduled April 23, 2019 at 23:30 UTC (7:30pm US/Eastern)Can A Black Hole Exist?Looking for help in understanding how black holes can moveBehind a black holeHow close would merging black holes have to be to feel gravitational waves?Would gravitational waves be subject to external gravitational perturbations?Which of the following statements about gravitational waves are true?As a black hole passes through spacetime, does it affect it?Could gravitational waves near merging black holes collapse to a black hole themselves?What is the actual black hole merger speed?Could a black hole pass quiescently through the Oort cloud?
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Can gravitational waves pass through a black hole?
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Can gravitational waves pass through a black hole?
Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara
Planned maintenance scheduled April 23, 2019 at 23:30 UTC (7:30pm US/Eastern)Can A Black Hole Exist?Looking for help in understanding how black holes can moveBehind a black holeHow close would merging black holes have to be to feel gravitational waves?Would gravitational waves be subject to external gravitational perturbations?Which of the following statements about gravitational waves are true?As a black hole passes through spacetime, does it affect it?Could gravitational waves near merging black holes collapse to a black hole themselves?What is the actual black hole merger speed?Could a black hole pass quiescently through the Oort cloud?
$begingroup$
As the title says, what happens when a gravitational wave approaches a black hole? I would presume that something interesting happens because of the way spacetime works near black holes but I have no knowledge to back it up.
black-hole general-relativity gravitational-waves
New contributor
dalearn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
As the title says, what happens when a gravitational wave approaches a black hole? I would presume that something interesting happens because of the way spacetime works near black holes but I have no knowledge to back it up.
black-hole general-relativity gravitational-waves
New contributor
dalearn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
What a great question! Do black holes (or indeed other masses) bend gravitational waves?
$endgroup$
– Fattie
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
As the title says, what happens when a gravitational wave approaches a black hole? I would presume that something interesting happens because of the way spacetime works near black holes but I have no knowledge to back it up.
black-hole general-relativity gravitational-waves
New contributor
dalearn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
As the title says, what happens when a gravitational wave approaches a black hole? I would presume that something interesting happens because of the way spacetime works near black holes but I have no knowledge to back it up.
black-hole general-relativity gravitational-waves
black-hole general-relativity gravitational-waves
New contributor
dalearn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
dalearn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 3 hours ago
John Rennie
541211
541211
New contributor
dalearn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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asked 5 hours ago
dalearndalearn
1314
1314
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dalearn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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New contributor
dalearn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
dalearn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$begingroup$
What a great question! Do black holes (or indeed other masses) bend gravitational waves?
$endgroup$
– Fattie
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
What a great question! Do black holes (or indeed other masses) bend gravitational waves?
$endgroup$
– Fattie
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
What a great question! Do black holes (or indeed other masses) bend gravitational waves?
$endgroup$
– Fattie
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
What a great question! Do black holes (or indeed other masses) bend gravitational waves?
$endgroup$
– Fattie
4 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
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oldest
votes
$begingroup$
No, gravitational waves cannot pass through a black hole.
A gravitational wave follows a path through spacetime called a null geodesic. This is the same path that would be followed by a light ray travelling in the same direction, and gravitational waves are affected by black holes in the same way that light rays are. So for example gravitational waves can be refracted by gravitational lenses just as light waves are. And just like light waves, if a gravitational wave crosses the event horizon surrounding a black hole it is then doomed to travel inwards to the singularity and can never escape.
There is one caveat to this. When we talk about a gravitational wave we generally mean a ripple in spacetime that is relatively small. Specifically it is small enough that the energy of the gravitational wave does not significantly affect the spacetime curvature. So when we calculate the trajectory of a gravitational wave near a black hole we take the black hole geometry as fixed, i.e. unaffected by the wave, and we compute the trajectory of the wave in this fixed background.
This is exactly the same approach as we use for calculating the trajectories of light rays. Since light rays carry energy and momentum then, at least in principle, they have their own gravitational fields. But for both the light rays and gravitational waves likely to exist in the universe the energy carried is too small to make a significant contribution to the spacetime curvature.
When you say in your question:
I would presume that something interesting happens because of the way spacetime works near black holes
I would guess you are thinking that the gravitational wave could change the geometry near a black hole, but as described above typical gravitational waves don't have enough energy to do this. It would be reasonable to ask what happens if we give the wave enough energy, but the answer turns out to be that it no longer behaves like a simple wave.
Gravitational waves exist in a regime called linearised gravity where they obey a wave equation that is basically similar to the wave equation light obeys. If we increase the energy so much that gravity becomes non-linear (as if the case for black holes) then the oscillations in the spacetime curvature no longer obey a wave equation and need to be described by the full Einstein equations. For example it has been suggested, but not proven, that really high energy gravitational (or light) waves could interact with each other to form a bound state called a geon. I confess that I'm unsure how much work has been done studying oscillations in this regime.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Excellent answer! If no one else comes along with a better one in the next 24 hours the +20 reputation goes to you!
$endgroup$
– dalearn
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
Just to avoid misinterpretations of the lead sentence, if a train of gravitational waves approaches a black hole, it would also diffract around the hole like a light front does, right? It's not as if there's a GW "shadow" behind the black hole.
$endgroup$
– Henning Makholm
1 hour ago
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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$begingroup$
No, gravitational waves cannot pass through a black hole.
A gravitational wave follows a path through spacetime called a null geodesic. This is the same path that would be followed by a light ray travelling in the same direction, and gravitational waves are affected by black holes in the same way that light rays are. So for example gravitational waves can be refracted by gravitational lenses just as light waves are. And just like light waves, if a gravitational wave crosses the event horizon surrounding a black hole it is then doomed to travel inwards to the singularity and can never escape.
There is one caveat to this. When we talk about a gravitational wave we generally mean a ripple in spacetime that is relatively small. Specifically it is small enough that the energy of the gravitational wave does not significantly affect the spacetime curvature. So when we calculate the trajectory of a gravitational wave near a black hole we take the black hole geometry as fixed, i.e. unaffected by the wave, and we compute the trajectory of the wave in this fixed background.
This is exactly the same approach as we use for calculating the trajectories of light rays. Since light rays carry energy and momentum then, at least in principle, they have their own gravitational fields. But for both the light rays and gravitational waves likely to exist in the universe the energy carried is too small to make a significant contribution to the spacetime curvature.
When you say in your question:
I would presume that something interesting happens because of the way spacetime works near black holes
I would guess you are thinking that the gravitational wave could change the geometry near a black hole, but as described above typical gravitational waves don't have enough energy to do this. It would be reasonable to ask what happens if we give the wave enough energy, but the answer turns out to be that it no longer behaves like a simple wave.
Gravitational waves exist in a regime called linearised gravity where they obey a wave equation that is basically similar to the wave equation light obeys. If we increase the energy so much that gravity becomes non-linear (as if the case for black holes) then the oscillations in the spacetime curvature no longer obey a wave equation and need to be described by the full Einstein equations. For example it has been suggested, but not proven, that really high energy gravitational (or light) waves could interact with each other to form a bound state called a geon. I confess that I'm unsure how much work has been done studying oscillations in this regime.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Excellent answer! If no one else comes along with a better one in the next 24 hours the +20 reputation goes to you!
$endgroup$
– dalearn
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
Just to avoid misinterpretations of the lead sentence, if a train of gravitational waves approaches a black hole, it would also diffract around the hole like a light front does, right? It's not as if there's a GW "shadow" behind the black hole.
$endgroup$
– Henning Makholm
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
No, gravitational waves cannot pass through a black hole.
A gravitational wave follows a path through spacetime called a null geodesic. This is the same path that would be followed by a light ray travelling in the same direction, and gravitational waves are affected by black holes in the same way that light rays are. So for example gravitational waves can be refracted by gravitational lenses just as light waves are. And just like light waves, if a gravitational wave crosses the event horizon surrounding a black hole it is then doomed to travel inwards to the singularity and can never escape.
There is one caveat to this. When we talk about a gravitational wave we generally mean a ripple in spacetime that is relatively small. Specifically it is small enough that the energy of the gravitational wave does not significantly affect the spacetime curvature. So when we calculate the trajectory of a gravitational wave near a black hole we take the black hole geometry as fixed, i.e. unaffected by the wave, and we compute the trajectory of the wave in this fixed background.
This is exactly the same approach as we use for calculating the trajectories of light rays. Since light rays carry energy and momentum then, at least in principle, they have their own gravitational fields. But for both the light rays and gravitational waves likely to exist in the universe the energy carried is too small to make a significant contribution to the spacetime curvature.
When you say in your question:
I would presume that something interesting happens because of the way spacetime works near black holes
I would guess you are thinking that the gravitational wave could change the geometry near a black hole, but as described above typical gravitational waves don't have enough energy to do this. It would be reasonable to ask what happens if we give the wave enough energy, but the answer turns out to be that it no longer behaves like a simple wave.
Gravitational waves exist in a regime called linearised gravity where they obey a wave equation that is basically similar to the wave equation light obeys. If we increase the energy so much that gravity becomes non-linear (as if the case for black holes) then the oscillations in the spacetime curvature no longer obey a wave equation and need to be described by the full Einstein equations. For example it has been suggested, but not proven, that really high energy gravitational (or light) waves could interact with each other to form a bound state called a geon. I confess that I'm unsure how much work has been done studying oscillations in this regime.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Excellent answer! If no one else comes along with a better one in the next 24 hours the +20 reputation goes to you!
$endgroup$
– dalearn
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
Just to avoid misinterpretations of the lead sentence, if a train of gravitational waves approaches a black hole, it would also diffract around the hole like a light front does, right? It's not as if there's a GW "shadow" behind the black hole.
$endgroup$
– Henning Makholm
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
No, gravitational waves cannot pass through a black hole.
A gravitational wave follows a path through spacetime called a null geodesic. This is the same path that would be followed by a light ray travelling in the same direction, and gravitational waves are affected by black holes in the same way that light rays are. So for example gravitational waves can be refracted by gravitational lenses just as light waves are. And just like light waves, if a gravitational wave crosses the event horizon surrounding a black hole it is then doomed to travel inwards to the singularity and can never escape.
There is one caveat to this. When we talk about a gravitational wave we generally mean a ripple in spacetime that is relatively small. Specifically it is small enough that the energy of the gravitational wave does not significantly affect the spacetime curvature. So when we calculate the trajectory of a gravitational wave near a black hole we take the black hole geometry as fixed, i.e. unaffected by the wave, and we compute the trajectory of the wave in this fixed background.
This is exactly the same approach as we use for calculating the trajectories of light rays. Since light rays carry energy and momentum then, at least in principle, they have their own gravitational fields. But for both the light rays and gravitational waves likely to exist in the universe the energy carried is too small to make a significant contribution to the spacetime curvature.
When you say in your question:
I would presume that something interesting happens because of the way spacetime works near black holes
I would guess you are thinking that the gravitational wave could change the geometry near a black hole, but as described above typical gravitational waves don't have enough energy to do this. It would be reasonable to ask what happens if we give the wave enough energy, but the answer turns out to be that it no longer behaves like a simple wave.
Gravitational waves exist in a regime called linearised gravity where they obey a wave equation that is basically similar to the wave equation light obeys. If we increase the energy so much that gravity becomes non-linear (as if the case for black holes) then the oscillations in the spacetime curvature no longer obey a wave equation and need to be described by the full Einstein equations. For example it has been suggested, but not proven, that really high energy gravitational (or light) waves could interact with each other to form a bound state called a geon. I confess that I'm unsure how much work has been done studying oscillations in this regime.
$endgroup$
No, gravitational waves cannot pass through a black hole.
A gravitational wave follows a path through spacetime called a null geodesic. This is the same path that would be followed by a light ray travelling in the same direction, and gravitational waves are affected by black holes in the same way that light rays are. So for example gravitational waves can be refracted by gravitational lenses just as light waves are. And just like light waves, if a gravitational wave crosses the event horizon surrounding a black hole it is then doomed to travel inwards to the singularity and can never escape.
There is one caveat to this. When we talk about a gravitational wave we generally mean a ripple in spacetime that is relatively small. Specifically it is small enough that the energy of the gravitational wave does not significantly affect the spacetime curvature. So when we calculate the trajectory of a gravitational wave near a black hole we take the black hole geometry as fixed, i.e. unaffected by the wave, and we compute the trajectory of the wave in this fixed background.
This is exactly the same approach as we use for calculating the trajectories of light rays. Since light rays carry energy and momentum then, at least in principle, they have their own gravitational fields. But for both the light rays and gravitational waves likely to exist in the universe the energy carried is too small to make a significant contribution to the spacetime curvature.
When you say in your question:
I would presume that something interesting happens because of the way spacetime works near black holes
I would guess you are thinking that the gravitational wave could change the geometry near a black hole, but as described above typical gravitational waves don't have enough energy to do this. It would be reasonable to ask what happens if we give the wave enough energy, but the answer turns out to be that it no longer behaves like a simple wave.
Gravitational waves exist in a regime called linearised gravity where they obey a wave equation that is basically similar to the wave equation light obeys. If we increase the energy so much that gravity becomes non-linear (as if the case for black holes) then the oscillations in the spacetime curvature no longer obey a wave equation and need to be described by the full Einstein equations. For example it has been suggested, but not proven, that really high energy gravitational (or light) waves could interact with each other to form a bound state called a geon. I confess that I'm unsure how much work has been done studying oscillations in this regime.
answered 4 hours ago
John RennieJohn Rennie
541211
541211
$begingroup$
Excellent answer! If no one else comes along with a better one in the next 24 hours the +20 reputation goes to you!
$endgroup$
– dalearn
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
Just to avoid misinterpretations of the lead sentence, if a train of gravitational waves approaches a black hole, it would also diffract around the hole like a light front does, right? It's not as if there's a GW "shadow" behind the black hole.
$endgroup$
– Henning Makholm
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Excellent answer! If no one else comes along with a better one in the next 24 hours the +20 reputation goes to you!
$endgroup$
– dalearn
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
Just to avoid misinterpretations of the lead sentence, if a train of gravitational waves approaches a black hole, it would also diffract around the hole like a light front does, right? It's not as if there's a GW "shadow" behind the black hole.
$endgroup$
– Henning Makholm
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Excellent answer! If no one else comes along with a better one in the next 24 hours the +20 reputation goes to you!
$endgroup$
– dalearn
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Excellent answer! If no one else comes along with a better one in the next 24 hours the +20 reputation goes to you!
$endgroup$
– dalearn
1 hour ago
1
1
$begingroup$
Just to avoid misinterpretations of the lead sentence, if a train of gravitational waves approaches a black hole, it would also diffract around the hole like a light front does, right? It's not as if there's a GW "shadow" behind the black hole.
$endgroup$
– Henning Makholm
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Just to avoid misinterpretations of the lead sentence, if a train of gravitational waves approaches a black hole, it would also diffract around the hole like a light front does, right? It's not as if there's a GW "shadow" behind the black hole.
$endgroup$
– Henning Makholm
1 hour ago
add a comment |
dalearn is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
dalearn is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
dalearn is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
dalearn is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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$begingroup$
What a great question! Do black holes (or indeed other masses) bend gravitational waves?
$endgroup$
– Fattie
4 hours ago