CRI听力:China Unveils "Taiji" Gravitational Wave Plan

Chinese scientists have announced a gravitational wave research plan they're dubbing "Taiji."

The Chinese Academy of Sciences says their research plans will be finalized later this year.

Academy member Wu Yueliang says their research will focus on low and medium-frequency gravitational wave signals, which would be different from those which US researchers confirmed they'd found last week using their Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, or LIGO.

"Gravitational waves can be categorized into three types according to their frequency bands. Low-frequency gravitational waves come from a larger variety of sources than the other two types, like the merger of binary galaxies or supermassive binary black holes and celestial body explosions. But these sources are yet to be found and this is what we are striving for."

The latest Chinese draft includes two sets of alternative plans.

One would include teaming up with the European Space Agency's eLISA project.

The other would be to launch a group of Chinese satellites to authenticate any data that the eLISA project comes up with.

eLISA, or "Laser Interferometer Space Antenna," is going to be designed to detect and observe gravitational waves with three satellites arranged in a triangle that sends a laser beam between each other.

It's tentatively scheduled to take shape in 2035.

Chinese Physicist Hu Wenrui says compared with the LIGO's ground-based observatory, eLISA will be able to do more in gravitational wave research, given that it will do the research in space.

"It's more significant, of course more challenging as well, to study low-frequency gravitational waves than high-frequency waves. LISA's project can even deserve more than a Nobel Prize if it succeeds. LIGO's discovery proves the existence of gravitational wave, but there are more secrets in the space waiting to be disclosed."

The new "Taiji" project would be similar to the so-called "Tianqin" plan being launched by Sun Yat-sen University.

"Tianqin" will is due to be carried out in four stages over the next 15 to 20 years, ultimately launching three high-orbit satellites to detect gravitational waves.

However, Wu Yueliang with the Chinese Academy of Sciences says Taiji and Tianqin would have different objectives.

"Tianqin project is aimed at something different from ours. The two projects target gravitational waves of different frequencies. The satellites for Tianqin project will orbit the earth and try to observe the waves, while ours fly around sun and help with study the theories behind the waves as well as the evolution of the universe."

US researchers confirmed last week that they discovered gravitational waves for the first time through the collision of two black holes some 1.3-billion years ago.
The waves from that collision were first detected back in September after making their journey through the cosmos.

While obviously beyond most people's understanding, the discovery is being hailed as a breakthrough in astronomic research, as it appears to prove theories put forward by both Einstein and Stephen Hawking about how the universe works.

By studying the discovery, astronomers may eventually be able to see the universe beyond what can currently be detected through the spectrum.

For CRI, this is Luo Bin.