Dear Colleague,

          I am following the progress of the LIGO project, or rather the lack of it. The project is based on the erroneous assumption that space is able to carry gravitational waves. That assumption came from the theory of general relativity.

          General relativity is wrong. Space does not warp, stretch, or shrink. Force fields do. Gravity, for instance. Gravitational force fields do not extend infinitely either. They have limits. The outermost gravity layer’s radius depends on the amount of material in the mass. Gravitational updates take place within the gravitational force field of that mass. In other words, it is only a local phenomenon.

          What is the LIGO project? Its name is Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory launched by Dr. Rainer Weiss of the MIT. It is located in Louisiana and the state of Washington. Its design is two steel tubes placed at right angle to each other. Each is 4 km long, 1.2 m wide, and joined at the vertex. Four mirrors and the beam splitter measure the stretch-shrink effect of gravitational waves. The project's cost is $365 million contributed by the National Science Foundation. LIGO is trying to detect ripples in space which are created by massive objects undergoing rapid acceleration – colliding black holes, exploding stars, pulsars, and binary neutron stars.

          Einstein predicted gravitational waves using  general relativity in 1916. According to him these waves warp space; shrink it in one direction and stretch it in another. What LIGO is trying to do is to measure the effect of those waves on the steel tubes – expansion and contraction of those tubes. If LIGO will register gravitational waves, they say, that will vindicate Einstein (expensive experiment just to vindicate anybody!). An upgrade of the system is scheduled in 2014. That will make my day. What is going to happen? Nothing, those nasty elusive gravitational waves! A space project is planned for 2018: project LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna). This is of course a critical test of general relativity. When the project fails to detect gravitational waves, general relativity will self-destruct.

          While no gravitational waves have yet been found, the LIGO researchers are optimistic. Meanwhile, there is a lot of hoopla around the current project – one gigantic public relations campaign to generate public support and solicit more funds.

          If my theory of gravity spheres is correct, no gravitational waves will ever be detected by LIGO. The whole project is an enormous exercise in futility and a financial waste, not counting scores of disappointed scientists, including you, dear colleague.

          The importance of the discovery of gravitational waves to science is greatly exaggerated. But since the project eventually will play itself out, the issue becomes academic. Perhaps the importance of the project is not in its scientific value, but in proving that general relativity keeps us on the wrong track. One way or another, the LIGO project is a dog-that-did-not-bark. General relativity is destined to fall into the trash bin of history.

                                                                             Yours sincerely,
                                                                               Igor Pavlov