Research report 2025 - Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen
Deciphering gravitational waves at lightning speed with AI
Authors
Dax, Maximilian; Green, Stephen R.; Gair, Jonathan; Gupte, Nihar; Pürrer, Michael; Raymond, Vivien; Wildberger, Jonas; Macke, Jakob H.; Buonanno, Alessandra; Schölkopf, Bernhard
Departments
Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme, Abteilung für Empirische Inferenz am Standort Tübingen
Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, Abteilung Astrophysikalische und Kosmologische Relativitätstheorie
Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, Abteilung Astrophysikalische und Kosmologische Relativitätstheorie
Summary
An interdisciplinary team of researchers presents a novel machine learning method that can analyze gravitational waves emitted by neutron star collisions almost instantaneously – even before the merger is fully observed. At the blink of an eye, the neural network processes the data and enables a fast search for visible light and other electromagnetic signals emitted during the collisions. The new method could have a decisive impact on the next generation of gravitational wave observatories.