LISA can find binaries from globular clusters in Milky Way: Study reveals

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LISA can potentially detect dozens of binary files in the globular clusters of the Milky Way
LISA can potentially detect dozens of binary files in the globular clusters of the Milky Way

New Delhi : During the space research programme, the European Space Agency has come up with a new discovery. Scientists found that their next-generation Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) gravitational wave detector can potentially detect dozens of binary files in the globular clusters of the Milky Way.

About Globular Clusters:

Globular clusters are dense environments which contain millions of tightly packed stars and are efficient source for gravitational waves. LISA, might be seen in space in the year 2034 and will be able to detect binary sources, pairs of orbiting compact objects. These binary sources will behold all combinations of black hole, neutron star and white dwarf components

Scientists believe that LISA will also be sensitive to gravitational waves of a lower frequency than those detected by the Earth-bound Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)"LISA is sensitive to Milky Way systems and will expand the breadth of the gravitational wave spectrum, allowing us to explore different types of objects that aren't observable with LIGO," said lead author Kyle Kremer, a doctoral student at the Northwestern University in Illinois, US.

For now, 150 globular clusters have been observed so far in the Milky Way and one out of every three clusters will produce a LISA source.

Approximately eight black hole binaries will be detectable by LISA in our neighbouring galaxy of Andromeda and another 80 in nearby Virgo, the study showed. 

The research is being published by the journal Physical Review Letters. The study is considered as the first to apply realistic globular cluster models to make comprehensive predictions of LISA sources in the space.