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The search for gravitational waves

The search for gravitational waves. Marco Cavaglià. Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Mississippi LIGO Scientific Collaboration. Background picture from http://cgwp.gravity.psu.edu. What is a gravitational wave?. A gravitational wave is:. …OK, I’ll try to keep it simple!.

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The search for gravitational waves

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  1. The search for gravitational waves Marco Cavaglià Department of Physics and AstronomyUniversity of MississippiLIGO Scientific Collaboration Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z Background picture from http://cgwp.gravity.psu.edu

  2. What is a gravitational wave? Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  3. A gravitational wave is: …OK, I’ll try to keep it simple! Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  4. A gravitational wave is a propagating disturbance of the spacetime Einstein’s General Relativity The spacetime geometry is continuously distorted by the presence of mass (=energy). When masses move rapidly, the spacetime becomes stirred by their motion: ripples start travelling outward with the speed of light Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  5. What is the effect of a gravitational wave? We will experiment on a graduate student (Mr. Jun-Qi Guo) Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  6. Sources of gravitational waves ♦ Coalescing binary neutron stars or black holes ♦ Spinning neutron stars ♦ Gravitational bursts (e.g. supernovae) ♦ Big bang gravitational echo Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  7. Sources of gravitational waves ♦ Coalescing binary neutron stars or black holes ♦ Spinning neutron stars ♦ Gravitational bursts (e.g. supernovae) ♦ Big bang gravitational echo Picture credit: NASA/CXC/AIfA; NRAO/VLA/NRL Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  8. Sources of gravitational waves ♦ Coalescing binary neutron stars or black holes ♦ Spinning neutron stars ♦ Gravitational bursts (e.g. supernovae) ♦ Big bang gravitational echo Picture credit: NASA/HST/STScI Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  9. Sources of gravitational waves ♦ Coalescing binary neutron stars or black holes ♦ Spinning neutron stars ♦ Gravitational bursts (e.g. supernovae) ♦ Big bang gravitational echo Picture credit: NASA/HST/STScI Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  10. Sources of gravitational waves ♦ Coalescing binary neutron stars or black holes ♦ Spinning neutron stars ♦ Gravitational bursts (e.g. supernovae) ♦ Big bang gravitational echo Picture credit: NASA/WMAP Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  11. How do we know that gravitational waves exist? Indirect detection: slow down of a binary pulsar R. Hulse J. Taylor John Rowe Animation/Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  12. Merger of a binary black hole system (equal-mass, unequal-spinblack holes) (Picture credit: L. Rezzolla, Albert-Einstein Institute, Golm, Germany) Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  13. Merger of a binary black hole system (equal-mass, zero-spin black holes) (Courtesy of L. Rezzolla, Albert-Einstein Institute, Golm, Germany) Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  14. What is LIGO? Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  15. A way to answer is to use the most incredible scientific tool of the new millennium: Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  16. ETMY 14 kW Ly Pickoff Port Reflected Port ITMY Lx Input Beam(Laser) RM BS 6 W ITMX ETMX 250 W ~0.2 W Strain Readout(Ly-Lx) Anti-Symmetric Port LIGO is an interferometer Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  17. The LIGO Observatory Hanford (WA) 4 km + 2 km interferometers Livingston (LA) 4 km interferometer Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  18. Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  19. Livingston, Louisiana Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  20. Vacuum equipment Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  21. Core optic suspensions Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  22. Core optics Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  23. The control room Vitor Cardoso Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  24. LIGO sensitivity S2: Feb.- Apr. 2003 59 days BNS reach ~ 1Mpc S3: Oct. ‘03 - Jan. ‘04 70 days BNS reach ~ 3Mpc Science Requirement. document (1995) Distance Earth-Sun (93.2 million miles)… …stretches by a fraction of an atom! S4: Feb. - Mar. 2005 30 days BNS reach ~ 15Mpc S5: Nov 2005 – Current Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  25. LIGO is so sensitive that it feels… ♦ Cars and trucks ♦ Airplanes ♦ Sea waves ♦ Earthquakes… Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  26. University of Michigan • University of Minnesota • The University of Mississippi • Massachusetts Inst. of Technology • Monash University • Montana State University • Moscow State University National Astronomical Observatory of Japan • Northwestern University • University of Oregon • Pennsylvania State University • Rochester Inst. of Technology • Rutherford Appleton Lab • University of Rochester • San Jose State University • Univ. of Sannio at Benevento, and Univ. of Salerno • University of Sheffield • University of Southampton • Southeastern Louisiana Univ. • Southern Univ. and A&M College • Stanford University • University of Strathclyde • Syracuse University • Univ. of Texas at Austin • Univ. of Texas at Brownsville • Trinity University • Universitat de les Illes Balears • Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst • University of Western Australia • Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee • Washington State University • University of Washington Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy The Univ. of Adelaide Andrews University The Australian National Univ. The University of Birmingham California Inst. of Technology Cardiff University Carleton College Charles Stuart Univ. Columbia University Embry Riddle Aeronautical Univ. Eötvös Loránd University University of Florida German/British Collaboration for the Detection of Gravitational Waves University of Glasgow Goddard Space Flight Center Leibniz Universität Hannover Hobart & William Smith Colleges Inst. of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Polish Academy of Sciences India Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics Louisiana State University Louisiana Tech University Loyola University New Orleans University of Maryland Max Planck Inst. for Gravitational Physics Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  27. You can also contribute! Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  28. The Einstein@home Project Sat Sept 8 2007 19:44 UTC http://www.einsteinathome.org Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

  29. Thank you! Liberal Arts Faculty Forum – Sept. 18th, 2007LIGO-G070613-00-Z

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