The Russian physicist Mikhail Gorodetsky assumes that the discovery of gravitational waves enables scientists to find "ears", by means of which they can unravel the most sigificant mysteries of the Universe in the near future.
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has announced its phenomenal detection of gravitational waves. According to the Russian physicist Mikhail Gorodetsky, the discovery paves way to the theories of quantum gravitation and the "great unity", which will explain all the processes in the Universe.

"We have got "ears" with which we can listen to the Universe. I am not joking: the frequencies of gravitational waves registered by LIGO are actually sound waves – hundreds of hertz and kilohertz, which can be transformed into sound and listened to just like bird chirping" — the scientific director of the Russian Quantum Center Prof. Mikhail Gorodetsky (the Moscow State University).

Mikhail Gorodetsky and several other Russian scientists jointly with their colleagues from 14 other countries are participating in work of the international LIGO project. Since 2000 the gravitational observatory has been attempting to  find gravitational waves and the space-time distortion predicted by Albert Einstein with his relativity theory nearly a hundred years ago.

In the framework of this project in the territory of the USA two huge "antennas" — two G-shaped laser interferometers with the "shoulder"  length of four kilometers were constructed. Recently the LIGO board has confirmed the news that the gravitational observatory managed to find traces of gravitational waves.

"Now we have only two detectors, but even that is enough to determine the mass of objects, and estimate their approximate location in the sky by the delay time. Localization turns out to be not really good with two antennas – there is some arch in the sky, but once the third European gravitational antenna is put into operation we will be able to determine the localization of sources with triangulation method precisely enough" — Mr. Gorodetsky explained.

According to him, this will make it possible to quickly target optical and radio telescopes at the area of gravitational waves for studying their sources with traditional methods.

"Besides, we will be able to check the relativity theory at the level of accuracy which is impossible with other methods, check new theories and, perhaps, come nearer to creating the quantum theory of gravitation or even the theory of great unity" — the physicist concluded.