Special & General Relativity Questions and Answers
What studies have been made for gravity waves?
Lots!
Here are three places you should visit.
World-wide gravity research groups
The Laser Interferometer Gravity Wave Observatory
The search for gravity waves is a very active research area which began in the 1970 when Davis at the University of Maryland built the first gravity wave telescope; a 5 ton cylinder of aluminum which was monitored for slight deformations that would signal the passage of a gravity wave. Since then, this basic concept has been vastly improved upon using cryogenically- cooled bars and with LIGO, laser interferometry over a multi-kilometer scale. If the laser beams combine perfectly, there will be no interference, but if one leg of the interferometer is slightly shorter or longer than the other, then a slight interference will occur signaling the passage of a space- distorting gravity wave.
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All answers are provided by Dr. Sten Odenwald (Raytheon STX) for the NASA Astronomy Cafe, part of the NASA Education and Public Outreach program.