Cosmic Hum Detected: Universe's Vibrations Revealed

A collaborative effort involving researchers from India, Japan, and Europe has yielded potential evidence of the universe's subtle vibrations. This phenomenon is theorized to be caused by ultra-low frequency gravitational waves, believed to emanate from colossal pairs of black holes millions of times heavier than our sun.

These powerful cosmic events, likely occurring in the centers of colliding galaxies, are thought to generate ripples in the fabric of spacetime. Astronomers refer to these as nano-hertz gravitational waves due to their immense wavelengths, spanning many lakhs of crores of kilometers. This persistent "hum" from numerous supermassive black hole pairs offers a new avenue for astrophysical exploration.

The research team, part of the European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) and Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA) consortia, published their findings in the Astronomy and Astrophysics journal. Their conclusions are based on an extensive analysis of pulsar data collected over 25 years across six of the world's most sensitive radio telescopes, including India's Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT).

IIT Hyderabad's Director, Prof. B. S. Murty, highlighted the significance of the NSM Param Seva computing facility at IITH in achieving these groundbreaking results, emphasizing the power of international scientific collaboration. The involvement of students from IITH's Physics and Electrical Engineering departments underscores a new generation of scientists contributing to major discoveries.