Gravitational music: a mathematical-musical model for the popularization of gravitational waves

Abstract

Nowadays scientific research, supported by technological development, proceeds at an inexorable speed. Thus, technical features could be difficult to understand for many of the population. Therefore, the research for a universal language has now become fundamental. At the same time, in the post-digital era, artistic research approached technology. The link between art and science has very ancient roots but in recent years has reached a complete overlap. For example, this is the case of the sonification process, which consists of the use of un-speech audio to transmit information. In this paper, we present Gravitational Music, an installation able to translate the physical phenomenon of gravitational waves propagation into sound, by exploiting an artistic approach. Gravitational Music is an efficient teaching tool that can be used for both school and adult purposes to simplify the complex language of science.