Inflation predicts primordial gravitational waves from quantum fluctuations. LIGO and future detectors aim to measure them. Detecting these waves would provide direct evidence of inflation and the Big Bang’s violent early dynamics. They carry information about energy scales unreachable in Earthly experiments. Gravitational waves also probe cosmic evolution and extreme physics. Their discovery would revolutionize cosmology and fundamental physics.
It matters because gravitational waves offer a new way to observe the universe’s birth.
It also connects theoretical predictions to measurable signals from the cosmos.
The Big Bang may have left ripples still passing through space today.
LIGO Scientific Collaboration [ligo.org]