In just ten years, scientists have gone from detecting the first gravitational waves to spotting hundreds of them. Each time there’s a new potential detection, alerts are sent out worldwide to observe any light from these events. Recently, one alert drew a lot of attention because its mass is smaller than anything we’ve documented before.
It’s important to remember that this is only a candidate detection. There’s a chance it could be a fluke. But if it’s genuine, we could be looking at something completely new in the universe.
Gravitational waves come from collisions involving extremely dense objects, like black holes or neutron stars. These arise from massive stars that explode as supernovae. Typically, neutron stars and black holes are over 1.4 and 3 times the mass of our Sun, respectively.
Now, let’s consider the recent gravitational wave candidate, S251112cm. This detection suggests a mass smaller than the Sun itself. If confirmed, we might be witnessing a unique pair of celestial objects. One theory is that they could be unusual neutron stars born from unique supernova explosions, leading them to be lighter than expected.
Dr. Christopher Berry from the University of Glasgow commented, “This is an extraordinary claim. You want extraordinary evidence to back it up.” He suggests that the formation of these lighter neutron stars could give us new insights into their physics and formation.
The objects responsible for S251112cm must be either neutron stars or black holes. Even a white dwarf, which is a leftover core of stars like our Sun, is too massive for current detection methods. A black hole less than the mass of our Sun indicates it could not have formed through a conventional stellar death.
Dr. Berry also mentioned the possibility of primordial black holes, theorized to have formed in the universe’s early days. These could arise from density fluctuations, collapsing into black holes without stellar roots. However, their existence remains unproven.
As for scientists’ confidence in the results, caution is key. The event has a false alarm rate of one in 6.2 years, compared to binary black holes that produce false alarms every tens of thousands of years. This means excitement must be tempered with skepticism.
Future analyses will help determine if this detection is a genuine signal or just a unique fluke. If it holds, it could suggest the existence of these lighter objects, supporting the theories around their formation.
The gravitational wave observatories have already made remarkable discoveries, and if this detection is confirmed, it will add another incredible chapter to humanity’s understanding of the universe. For now, we wait to see if this claim becomes one more extraordinary reality in the ongoing story of astrophysics.
For more on the science behind gravitational waves, you can check out studies and reports from NASA and the European Space Agency.
