When people refere to gravity waves, do they mean "waves of gravity" literally, or oscillations in space as a result of warping due to gravity? I was under the impression that gravitational changes happen instantaneously thoughout the universe, and "gravity waves" always seem to be treated as if they move at a certain speed.
A gravity wave is a change in the geometry of spacetime which propagates at the speed of light. In fact, all changes to the curvature of spacetime are thought to happen at the speed of light, not instantaneously. That's why the gravitational force of the sun comes from where you see the sun, rather than from where the sun really IS "now". (Light takes 8.5 minutes to travel from the sun to Earth, so where the sun is now is not where we see it as being.)
Has this been checked with those big gravity detector doohickeys? Do they really give the sun's position based on gravity exactly as it is at any given time based on the light emissions? Or, if they point to the sun being 8.3 minutes behind where we see it, that would be quite interesting. Very odd. Anyone know specifically about any such tests?
Tests Yes, the gravity wave detectors are officially online now, but as of yet have failed to show gravity waves. This is not necessarily because the waves don't exist... the detectors are *so* incredibly sensitive to vibration that they are picking up interference. (I remember reading that they couldn't ever do tests during rush hour because of a highway some miles away meddling with their readings.) I personally am watching this very closely though. Most mainstream science publications do a story on this from time to time, it's very interesting.
The reason I was asking is because I remember reading somewhere, the elegant universe IIRC, that an arguement against gravitons was that gravity semed to efffect teh universe instantaneously, and not at the speed of light. That's why I'm confused. am I not making sense? of corse not. I'm confused.
