University experts making wavesfor project

Paisley’s university is at the forefront of a project aimed at exploring the mysteries of space.

The University of the West of Scotland is one of 12 UK institutions taking part in the initiative - aimed at developing a better understanding of the universe.

They are part of the bid to compile the largest catalogue of gravitational wave events ever assembled, including dozens of ripples in space time captured by a global network of detectors.

A worldwide team of scientists, lead by the UK, have picked up momentous happenings, such as the aftershocks of huge astronomical events.

UWS academics, including Professor Des Gibson and Carlos Garcia Nunez, have detected a further 35 gravitational wave events unveiled in the paper, released yesterday - bringing the total number of events observed since detection began, to 90.

The catalogue updates the list of all such events observed to date and adds those between November 2019 and March 2020, discovered through detectors at US observatories in Louisiana and Washington state, as well as a site in Italy.

Professor Des Gibson, founder and director of the Institute of Thin Films, Sensors and Imaging at UWS and Principal Investigator of the research, said: “We are delighted to be involved in this dynamic and fast-moving gravitational wave research.

“The new catalogue represents years of hard work from theorists, scientists and engineers and today we are now seeing these detections documented.

“This research is absolutely vital in enhancing our understanding of the universe and UWS is proud of the role it plays in this important work.”

Academics detected 35 occurrences, 32 of which were deemed likely to be black hole mergers - two black holes spiralling around one another before joining together in an event which emits a burst of gravitational waves.