Re: [Phys-l] gravitational waves.

[Hugh Haskell <haskellh@verizon.net>]

At 06:54 -0500 10/26/2010, Bill Nettles wrote:
> It did bother me a bit that there was never any indication on the 
> poster that we haven't detected any gravitational waves. I'm 
> reluctant to post the poster without a disclaimer so that my 
> students won't assume the waves have been measured.  Contrast this 
> with the  publicity surrounding LHC and the Higgs particle ... it's 
> very clear that it hasn't been measured.
It is true that no direct detection of gravity waves has occurred, 
but the fact that the rotational frequency decay rate of several 
carefully measured pulsars can be exactly accounted for by the 
emission of gravitational energy (gravitons) is considered pretty 
conclusive evidence of their existence by the community.

One must also recall that the existence of neutrinos was assumed to 
be settled long before they were actually detected (otherwise, why 
would it have taken 40 years before the feat was recognized by the 
Nobel Committee?).

I do agree. however. that in the interests of full disclosure the 
chart needs to be clear that the waveform graphs are theoretical, and 
no "direct" detection of gravity waves has yet taken place--which 
isn't to say that there remains any significant controversy over 
their existence.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
mailto:hugh@ieer.org
mailto:haskellh@verizon.net

It isn't easy being green.

		--Kermit Lagrenouille