«If we see a weird shape that deviates significantly from a circle, we can try to figure out what kind of
deviation from general relativity is required to produce it,» says Avery Broderick, a theoretical astrophysicist at Waterloo University and the Perimeter Institute.
The journey to this peculiar possibility combines developments deep and far - flung —
insights from general relativity; from research on black holes; from thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, and, most recently, string theory.
«Theories of gravity that are
different from general relativity often make such predictions, and we have put new restrictions on the parameters that describe these theories.»
This quantum gravity theory would take over
from general relativity in the extraordinarily tight quarters — the very core of a black hole, the very instant of the Big Bang — where relativity now predicts, absurdly, that space - time is infinitely curved.
Astronomical observations aren't detailed enough to settle the argument, and computer models require a complex mix of
data from general relativity, plasma physics, and magnetic fields.
Einstein unveiled his theory in 1915, and it has withstood every test experimentalists have thrown at it, so finding any
departures from general relativity would be huge.
From general relativity flowed the realization that the universe is expanding, that it contains spacetime bottomless pits called black holes, that it is traversed by ripples in space triggered by cataclysmic collisions.