Today’s subject

May be the most peculiar object

In our universe.

They may also act like a curse

To their surrounding stars.

As with their strong gravitational pull

These stars may not have any option

But to obey their rule

Of spiraling down and falling

To these immense space-time sinks

From where even light finds itself

Impossible to escape,

The ultimate trap

In the space-time landscape.

Black holes they are called

And throughout our universe

They have been installed.

Scattered throughout the universe

Their sizes may be relatively small or large.

Giants are usually residing

At the center of galaxies as they are presiding

Over the behavior of their kingdom,

They like to rule over their stars

Who may enjoy very little freedom.

 

Einstein combined

Space and time

Into this space-time continuum

Which either fills

Or is the vacuum

Of our universe

Which of course

Is very very very large.

 

Spacetime feels some tingle

When a mass shows up and wants to mingle

Then bending twisting and turning

It tries to deal with this burning.

 

It is the background stage

Where everything takes place

In it everything stays bound

And it cannot be replaced,

Even where there is nothing

It stays there for it to be found.

It is persistent

And without it

Our universe as we know it

Would be nonexistent.

General relativity

A theory that is complex

But has its inner beauty

Was Einstein’s creation,

The man spent years doing this,

It was his devotion.

This theory

Deals with gravity

As curvature in space-time

Which is the entity

That existed in his mind

With absolute surety.

 

Spacetime curvature

May be not a matter for the amateur,

Differential geometry and tensor analysis

Are the language of this

Very complicated thesis.

Even to experts

Having all their recitals and all their verse –

These things are not easy,

Looking for clues and solving equations

They like to keep themselves busy,

Trying to find the solutions

Working hard and trying to master

Sometimes with success and sometimes with disaster.

Hours in the labs

And years in graduate school

Things may start to make sense perhaps

But still you may feel like a fool.

 

According to general relativity

Spacetime must bend

When mass is present

And in its vicinity.

This curvature

Is what other creatures

Must follow

When they are near

This massive object,

Unless they get swallowed

By its immense gravitational effect.

They may describe their motion

Under the dictation

Of some kind of gravitation.

Anybody with any kind of acceleration

Will experience a similar situation,

And they may be unable to distinguish

Whether they are under the wish

Of some gravity

Or are they just accelerating

Because of some other unrelated thing

Or some other unrelated entity.

 

From this profound understanding

Einstein was able to build his grand thing

Whose equations did predict

That these objects called black holes

Should exist.

Then they were confirmed

By indirect observation

And by their effects on other objects

That were around.

Bending of light is one such effect

As light passes by a black hole

It must deflect,

As it follows the curvature in space-time

Created by its mass’s effect.

This phenomenon keeps appearing

As gravitational lensing.

 

As stars are constantly burning

Their energy they are constantly churning

Radiating energies in all directions

Depleting their own balance sheets

While supporting other creations.

 

Such lustrous lifestyle

Leads to an ending that is contractile.

At the end they start to shrink

Gravity is the process behind this link.

 

For stars larger than a certain mass

This shrinking continues without any fuss.

As gravity exerts its effects

The star’s internal outward pressure

No longer is able to counteract

To keep this contraction in check.

The end result

Is the formation of a black hole

Where all the mass

That were involved in this role

Becomes the energy

In the extreme space-time curvature

Created by this newly formed creature –

The black hole.

 

Boundary of a black hole

Event horizon is what it is called

Where time seems to stand still

This is what distant observers actually feel.

Inside the black hole

Space and time seems to switch their role.

Anything crossing this horizon

Has no chance of return

This action cannot be undone

And they must move on,

As all directions

Point towards the center

You can never leave

Once you cross and enter.

This applies

Even to light

So you must give in

There is no point in any fight.

And this is why

Black holes are black

As intention of letting any light

Out of their zone

They completely lack.

 

Disturbances in the space-time fabric

Are called gravitational waves

And they behave

Just like any other wave,

But travel at the speed of light

And can be detected at a distant site

If the equipment is right.

 

Space-time curvature

Around a black hole

Is extreme and severe.

As a result

When black holes collide or merge

The process produces a surge

Of powerful gravitational waves,

As they shake up the space-time around them

So violently

In this process of becoming one

So beautifully.

This cosmic marriage

Nothing is able to prevent or discourage

And bells of these weddings

Spread out and continue to ring.

These ripples in space-time

Go out in all different directions

And we humans now can find

What were the underlying actions.

 

I was thinking about Dr. Kip Thorne

A man whose mission

Was to find the solution

Of the  problem of detection

Of gravitational waves,

Which finally came through

As the LIGOs became true

And we were able to know

How they really behave.

 

Their strengths

Being usually so faint

Requires interactions

Between giants

Such as black holes

For us to appreciate

As they dissipate

Over the vast distances

That they have to propagate

Before we can detect,

Precise instruments are needed

To see their effect.

 

For us the earthly observers

These waves hit our detectors,

And then with powerful computers

These signals can be converted

For our eyes and for our ears,

So that we are able to see

The signatures

Of such remote performances

And can hear the chirps and moans

Of such violent and fateful romances.

 

Gravitational waves

Are opening new windows to the universe’s caves,

Where things were previously hidden

They are no longer forbidden

For the humans to take a peek,

Feels like the universe is allowing to leak

Some of its deepest secrets

Showing us how it works

How it creates

And how it behaves.

May be we should keep our eyes open

And our ears may be we should lend

To these messages that are being sent

Through the spacetime that is being bent

For us humans

To capture digest and to comprehend… … …

By,

Kris Mojag

Written somewhere in California over a couple of days in October of 2021 as the subject is complex, and I am not an expert but hopefully I was able to bring out the theme.