Exploring Gravitational Waves from Supermassive Black Hole Mergers

This chapter delves into the rarity and significance of gravitational waves from merging supermassive black holes, emphasizing the challenges in detecting these events due to their infrequency. It discusses the intricacies of the LIGO experiment and how it detects gravitational waves through interferometry, shedding light on the historical skepticism surrounding gravitational waves and the groundbreaking 2016 detection. The conversation highlights the unique nature of gravitational waves generated by supermassive black hole mergers and their impact on measuring properties of black holes.