At a Glance
- Scientists have successfully simulated the complete journey of gravitational waves interacting with black holes, offering a breakthrough in understanding wave behavior from past to future.
- Using advanced mathematics, researchers modeled gravitational waves across “null infinity,” allowing for precise tracking of their interactions with black holes throughout the cosmos.
- Simulations showed that weak waves had about 8.5 percent of their energy scattered while stronger waves scattered around 20 percent, confirming spacetime’s resistance to deformation.
- These results, measured using Bondi energy and Bondi news, demonstrated energy conservation during wave-black hole interactions and offered critical insight into cosmic wave behavior.
- This study marks a significant advancement in gravitational physics and opens new research paths for probing the structure and dynamics of black holes and spacetime.
Scientists have made a groundbreaking achievement in studying the behavior of gravitational waves as they encounter black holes. Researchers from the University of Otago and other institutions have developed the first-ever numerical simulations that track the entire journey of a gravitational wave from the past to the future. Using this new approach, they studied how these waves interact with black holes, which can absorb or scatter the waves.
The team used advanced mathematical techniques to model these waves across a “null infinity” region, representing spacetime boundaries where light and gravitational waves travel. This is crucial for understanding how waves behave as they move through the universe and interact with objects like black holes. By applying the mathematical framework of the generalized conformal field equations, the team was able to bring the infinite distance into a manageable computational domain, enabling them to track waves with incredible precision.
The simulations, which were conducted using a powerful software tool called COFFEE, showed how gravitational waves with varying strengths interacted with a Schwarzschild black hole. They found that about 8.5% of the energy scattered back into space for waves with weak amplitudes, while stronger waves had around 20% of their energy scattered. This revealed that spacetime is highly resistant to deformation, with most of the energy absorbed by the black hole rather than escaping into the universe.
These results, published in Physical Review Letters, were measured using two important quantities, Bondi energy, and Bondi news, which help determine the energy and radiation associated with gravitational waves. The data confirmed that energy is conserved during the interaction between waves and the black hole. It also provided new insights into how black holes scatter gravitational waves, vital for understanding cosmic phenomena detected by observatories like LIGO. While challenges remain, the study opens new avenues for understanding the fundamental properties of the universe’s most mysterious objects.
References
- Frauendiener, J., Stevens, C., & Thwala, S. (2025). Fully nonlinear gravitational wave simulations from past to future null infinity. Physical Review Letters, 134(16), 161401. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.161401
- Gururaj, T. & Phys.org. (n.d.). From infinite past to future: Simulation tracks complete journey of gravitational wave through black hole spacetime. May 30, 2025; Phys.org. Retrieved 5 June 2025, from https://phys.org/news/2025-05-infinite-future-simulation-tracks-journey.html
