Latest news with #PhysicsDepartment
India Today
29-05-2025
- Science
- India Today
IIT-Bombay astronomers hunt for light from biggest explosions in space
A team of scientists at IIT-Bombay is searching the skies for a rare cosmic phenomenon — flashes of light that might come from the collision of black holes and neutron explosions are among the most violent events in the universe, and the team hopes to find clues that could change how we understand project is led by Professor Varun Bhalerao from the Physics Department at IIT-B. His team is exploring whether black holes, which are known for pulling in everything around them including light, can also emit light when they collide — a mystery yet to be When massive objects like black holes or neutron stars crash into each other, they create gravitational waves — ripples in space and time, first predicted by Albert Einstein. While detectors like LIGO in the US, Virgo in Europe, and KAGRA in Japan can pick up these waves, spotting light from such events is far 2017, scientists have only seen light and gravitational waves together from one kind of event: the merger of two neutron stars. No light has yet been seen from crashes involving black holes investigate further, IIT-B's researchers used India's space telescope AstroSat. Its CZTI instrument looked for X-rays that might have flashed within seconds of about 70 known gravitational wave events. These included black hole collisions up to 32 billion light-years far, the team hasn't spotted any flashes. But even these 'misses' help — they allow scientists to set limits on how bright such explosions might be, which sharpens future universe is the most extreme physics laboratory,' said Prof. Bhalerao. 'Looking for light from black hole collisions challenges what we think we know — and could lead to surprises.'With the upcoming LIGO India facility and India's proposed Daksha mission, designed to scan the whole sky for such flashes, scientists are the current global gravitational wave search continues until late 2025, more data may finally shed light on these dark cosmic events.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nessel's office drops charges against University of Michigan Diag protestors
Rhiannon Willow, a PhD student and research assistant in the Physics Department, speaks at TAHRIR Coalition "Call to Action". July 1, 2024. Willow was one of seven people whose charges for trespassing and resisting and/or obstructing a police officer during campus protests were dropped Monday by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. | Photo by Jon King Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Monday that her office was dropping charges against seven pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan. The seven individuals; Oliver Kozler, Samantha Lewis, Henry MacKeen-Shapiro, Michael Mueller, Asad Siddiqui, Avi Tachna-Fram and Rhiannon Willow, were charged last September with trespassing and resisting and/or obstructing a police officer after an encampment by pro-Palestinian protestors on the university's Diag on the Ann Arbor campus was broken up by police in May 2024. All seven previously pleaded not guilty and were in Ann Arbor District Court Monday morning awaiting a decision on a motion for Nessel to recuse herself from the case when they learned of the dismissals. In announcing the decision to drop the charges, Nessel called the recusal motion a 'diversionary tactic,' and that because the case had become 'a lightning rod of contention,' it was no longer in the public's best interest to proceed. 'These distractions and ongoing delays have created a circus-like atmosphere to these proceedings,' Nessel said. 'While I stand by my charging decisions, and believe, based on the evidence, a reasonable jury would find the defendants guilty of the crimes alleged, I no longer believe these cases to be a prudent use of my department's resources, and, as such, I have decided to dismiss the cases.' Another factor in Nessel's decision was a letter the Detroit Free Press reported was sent to the court last week by the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, defending Nessel against accusations that she was biased against the Muslim and Arab American communities. 'We have learned that a public statement in support of my office from a local non-profit has been directly communicated to the court,' Nessel said in her statement. 'The impropriety of this action has led us to the difficult decision to drop these charges.' In response to the news, the TAHRIR Coalition, made up of dozens of pro-Palestinian student groups at the University of Michigan, said on social media that the decision 'is what happens when we resist and refuse to cower.' Pro-Palestinian protesters slam U of M for asking Michigan AG to press charges against students The protests were part of a wave of demonstrations at college campuses across the nation that began in the aftermath of Israeli military strikes in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, surprise attack by Hamas on Israel. Meanwhile, Nessel's office continues to carry out an investigation of pro-Palestinian protesters accused of causing approximately $100,000 of damage at up to a dozen locations, including at the homes of University of Michigan President Santa Ono and University of Michigan Regent Jordan Acker. A warrant sweep in conjunction with that investigation was carried out last month at locations in Ann Arbor, Canton and Ypsilanti. Charges have yet to be filed in those incidents. On Sunday, Ono announced he would leave the university later this summer to become the president at the University of Florida. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
