The possibility of gravitational waves was discussed in 1893 by However, the nature of Einstein's approximations led many (including Einstein himself) to doubt the result. We know it can't be infinite density, do we even have a clue what that core consists of?

Animals. He was convinced. Each time, scientists got a new view of the universe.In the same way, gravitational waves have the potential to show scientists totally new features of cosmic objects, LIGO team members said. How? site design / logo © 2020 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under The blue line is the gravitational wave signal measured from the observatory in Livingston, Louisiana. The quest to observe gravitational waves challenges our ability to discriminate signals from detector noise. Indirect observation. Years ago the team searching for gravitational waves with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), determined the levels of statistical significance … I've always found the metaphor of space a sheet with objects on it perplexing - the reason it sounds intuitive is because of our notion of gravity pulling things down! © By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Physics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for active researchers, academics and students of physics. "LIGO is "the most sensitive instrument ever built," said Reitze, and the technological advances that have been made while building the observatory may feed into technologies that will be used in ways people can't yet predict.Thorne said he sees the larger contribution of LIGO slightly differently.
@HopelessN00b Even if it's currently as useless as you say, the answer does explicitly mention future improvements ("as more detectors come online...").

In any case, my understanding is that although there are a variety of viable inflation theories, most serious models require the presence of gravitational radiation resulting from the Big Bang (termed Primordial Gravitational Waves). So I guess the short answer is that current Inflation models, which incorporate GR, require Primordial Gravitational Waves, and if Primordial Gravitational Waves exist, then Gravitational Waves exist.In addition to answers given above, I'd like to add poweful theoretical argument.

If detectors are made to work at lower frequencies (in space) then they can "see" gravitational waves originating from beyond the cosmic microwave background right back to the inflationary epoch.Another thing that has become clear today is that binary mergers give a chirp that yield the masses of the merging components, but also gives accurate, independent distance estimates.
When you perturb a black hole away from its stable state, you create something called quasinormal modes—mathematical descriptions of the perturbation from equilibrium—which decay exponentially over time as the black hole approaches equilibrium.The experimental signal does not contain much information about the ring-down. Here we show how signal classification methods inspired by broad astrophysical characteristics can be implemented in all-sky …