Scientific Discoveries…Gravitational wave triumph turns to dust after flawed analysis revealed

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   Gravitational wave triumph turns to dust after flawed analysis revealed

It was hailed as one the most important scientific discoveries of the century, the birth of a new era in physics and a shoe-in for a Nobel prize.

The claim from Harvard University that it had discovered gravitational waves – and thereby evidence for the theory of cosmic inflation and the existence of a multiverse – caused a worldwide sensation in March. But the celebrations are now looking decidedly premature. Rather than securing a trip to Stockholm to receive a Nobel medal, the Harvard team may have detected nothing more than space dust.

Writing in the journal Nature on Wednesday, Paul Steinhardt, director of the Centre for Theoretical Physics at Princeton University, argues that the Harvard team made an unfortunate blunder in its calculations. “Serious flaws in the analysis have been revealed that transform the sure detection into no detection,” he writes.

Source: www.rawstory.com

Cosmologists working on Harvard’s Bicep2 (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization) telescope at the south pole unveiled their surprise discovery at a press conference at Harvard, before they had published their results in a peer-reviewed journal. The purpose of independent vetting by peer reviewers is to catch flawed studies before they become part of the scientific literature.

Led by cosmologist John Kovac, the Harvard researchers said they had spotted a twist in the ancient light that lingers in the universe from the time of the big bang. This polarisation, they said, was evidence of gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time predicted by Einstein’s 1916 general theory of relativity.

According to the Harvard group there was a one in two million chance of the result being a statistical fluke. But within hours of making the announcement, scientists began to raise concerns. The criticisms have been building up steadily on physics blogs ever since…

Cosmologists working on Harvard’s Bicep2 (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization) telescope at the south pole unveiled their surprise discovery at a press conference at Harvard, before they had published their results in a peer-reviewed journal. The purpose of independent vetting by peer reviewers is to catch flawed studies before they become part of the scientific literature.

Led by cosmologist John Kovac, the Harvard researchers said they had spotted a twist in the ancient light that lingers in the universe from the time of the big bang. This polarisation, they said, was evidence of gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time predicted by Einstein’s 1916 general theory of relativity.

According to the Harvard group there was a one in two million chance of the result being a statistical fluke. But within hours of making the announcement, scientists began to raise concerns. The criticisms have been building up steadily on physics blogs ever since…More Here

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