Sonification of gravitationally lensed gravitational waves / Sonificaci\'o de l'efecte de lent gravitat\`oria en ones gravitacionals

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel sonification method that translates gravitational lensing effects on gravitational waves into sound, allowing auditory perception of wave interference caused by massive objects.

Contribution

It introduces a new sonification approach that reproduces gravitational lensing effects on gravitational waves through sound, enabling auditory analysis of complex astrophysical phenomena.

Findings

Reproduced interference patterns of gravitational lensing acoustically

Created interactive and recorded sound examples for educational use

Demonstrated the natural fit of sound for visualizing wave superposition

Abstract

Gravitational waves are oscillations of space-time that are created, for example, in black hole mergers. If these waves travel through another massive astrophysical object, they will undergo an effect called gravitational lensing, that will distort and deflect them. This effect can create multiple images of the gravitational wave signal, and interference between them. In this document, we describe the sonification process of the gravitational lensing effect on gravitational waves. Sonification is the translation of data into sound. The wave nature of sound creates interference between waves in a natural way. This has allowed us to reproduce the interference produced by the superposition of gravitational wave images, characteristic of the gravitational lensing effect. The results can be heard on the following websites: https://zoom3.net/sonificacions/ona-gravitacional.html - gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes https://zoom3.net/sonificacions/ona-gravitacional-lent.html - gravitational waves affected by a gravitational lens, interactive website https://zoom3.net/sonificacions/ona-gravitacional-lent-exemples.html - gravitational waves affected by a gravitational lens, recorded examples.