Exploring gravitational waves with Taylor, Justin and the Scorpions

4 September 2024

Photo: Barclays Arena

Several concerts have already served as a basis for the researchers. Further measurements of major musical events in the Barclays Arena will follow.

At the end of July, up to 800 people simultaneously followed the seismic waves emanating from the Taylor Swift concert in Hamburg's Volksparkstadion via livestream. The broadcasts provided the WAVE research team with important insights - and the next recordings are already in the pipeline with the concerts by Justin Timberlake and the Scorpions.

The vibrations generated by the songs ‘Love Story’ and ‘Shake it Off’ during the Taylor Swift concerts in July were measurable throughout the entire tunnel of the European XFEL X-ray laser, which ends more than three kilometres away from the Volksparkstation in Schenefeld. The 19-kilometre fibre optic network at Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld, which the ‘WAVE’ research network uses as a seismic sensor, and the ‘PETRA III’ accelerator at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY also provided extensive recording data throughout the concert. The measurements were transmitted via livestream.

However, these were not just for the entertainment of the fans: ‘Of course, it is a great opportunity to make our research accessible to a wider audience and show how dynamic our underground is,’ explains Prof Dr Céline Hadziioannou, Professor of Seismology at the University of Hamburg (UHH). However, the results were also used specifically for research. ‘The songs emitted different seismic signals. This helps us to understand, for example, what triggers them, i.e. the bass of the music or the jumping of the audience,’ says Prof Dr Katharina-Sophie Isleif, Professor of Measurement Technology at Helmut Schmidt University and member of the Quantum Universe (QU) Cluster of Excellence at UHH.

Improving measuring instruments and understanding wave movements

The paths that the waves take from their point of origin are also very revealing. A wide variety of events are therefore recorded. Following Taylor Swift, singer Robbie Williams and the band Deichkind have already been guests in the research team's live stream with their performances at the Bahrenfeld Harness racing track. Justin Timberlake followed on 4 September and the Scorpions on 13 September - both at the Barclays Arena. In addition, numerous home football matches of HSV will be broadcast, but heavy thunderstorms will also be included in the analyses.

 On the one hand, the results can be used to further refine and improve the measurement network. On the other hand, by understanding the waves and their propagation, changes in temperature or soil moisture in the subsoil, among other things, can be determined in future. This makes it possible to make statements about the influence of climate change on the city. The findings are also important for research into gravitational waves, which is being conducted in the QU Cluster of Excellence, among others.

 As the experiments for detecting these cosmic signals are extremely sensitive to vibrations of all kinds, it is essential to precisely measure and predict possible disruptive waves. Seismic networks such as ‘WAVE’ should help to reduce this so-called Newtonian noise in the future. ‘We are practically training ourselves and the network with the concerts and football matches to enable groundbreaking physical discoveries,’ says Prof Dr Oliver Gerberding, Professor of Gravitational Wave Detection at Universität Hamburg.

 An interdisciplinary co-operation

‘WAVE’ is coordinated by Prof Hadziioannou and Prof Gerberding from the University of Hamburg, Prof Isleif from Helmut Schmidt University and Dr Holger Schlarb from DESY. Researchers from the European XFEL and the German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam will also be taking part. The live streams can be accessed via the network's website.