How does LIGO detect gravitational waves?

How does LIGO detect gravitational waves?

LIGO currently consists of two interferometers, each with two 4 km (2.5 mile) long arms arranged in the shape of an “L”. These instruments act as ‘antennae’ to detect gravitational waves.

Where has LIGO detected gravitational waves?

LIGO operates two gravitational wave observatories in unison: the LIGO Livingston Observatory ( 30°33′46.42″N 90°46′27.27″W) in Livingston, Louisiana, and the LIGO Hanford Observatory, on the DOE Hanford Site ( 46°27′18.52″N 119°24′27.56″W), located near Richland, Washington.

What is LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves?

It is the world’s largest gravitational wave observatory and a marvel of precision engineering. Comprising two enormous laser interferometers located 3000 kilometers apart, LIGO exploits the physical properties of light and of space itself to detect and understand the origins of gravitational waves (GW).

When did LIGO detect gravitational waves?

All of this changed on September 14, 2015, when LIGO physically sensed the undulations in spacetime caused by gravitational waves generated by two colliding black holes 1.3 billion light-years away. LIGO’s discovery will go down in history as one of humanity’s greatest scientific achievements.

What is the principle of LIGO?

Gravitational waves cause space itself to stretch in one direction and simultaneously compress in a perpendicular direction. In LIGO, this causes one arm of the interferometer to get longer while the other gets shorter, then vice versa, back and forth as long as the wave is passing.

What is LIGO and how does it work?

It is the world’s largest gravitational wave observatory and a marvel of precision engineering. Comprising two enormous laser interferometers located 3000 kilometers apart, LIGO exploits the physical properties of light and of space itself to detect and understand the origins of gravitational waves (GW).

What did LIGO first detect?

On 14 September 2015, while LIGO was running in engineering mode but without any blind data injections, the instrument reported a possible gravitational wave detection. The detected event was given the name GW150914.

How does LIGO measure distance?

Each houses a large-scale interferometer, a device that uses the interference of two beams of laser light to make the most precise distance measurements in the world. The animation begins with a simplified depiction of the LIGO instrument.

What did the LIGO experiment recently discovered?

The LIGO team determined that the total mass of the neutron star pair was 3.4 times that of Earth’s sun. Telescopes have never seen a neutron star pair with a combined mass greater than 2.9 times that of the sun.

Why is the LIGO experiment important?

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, better known as LIGO, was the first experiment ever to directly detect these ripples in space-time, so it’s the first direct physical evidence that they actually exist.

How does LIGO detect black holes?

As an antenna able to detect vibrations in the ‘medium’ of space-time, LIGO is akin to a human ear able to detect vibrations in a medium like air or water. This is the way in which LIGO has opened a new ‘window’ on the universe. Things like colliding black holes are utterly invisible to EM astronomers.

What has LIGO detected?

To date, LIGO has published the detection of gravitational waves generated by 10 pairs of merging black holes and two pairs of colliding neutron stars.

How does LIGO detect black holes?

As an antenna able to detect vibrations in the ‘medium’ of space-time, LIGO is akin to a human ear able to detect vibrations in a medium like air or water. This is the way in which LIGO has opened a new ‘window’ on the universe. Things like colliding black holes are utterly invisible to EM astronomers.

How is LIGO so accurate?

Each houses a large-scale interferometer, a device that uses the interference of two beams of laser light to make the most precise distance measurements in the world. The animation begins with a simplified depiction of the LIGO instrument.

How does LIGO use laser interferometry to detect gravitational waves?

The laser beams reflect back and forth off of mirrors, coming back to converge at the crux of the arms, canceling each other out. The passage of a gravitational wave would alter the length of the arms, causing the beams to travel different distances. The mismatch would be measurable with a light detector.

How sensitive does LIGO need to be to detect gravitational waves?

LIGO’s laser first enters the interferometer at about 40 Watts, but it needs to operate closer to 750kW if it has any hope of detecting gravitational waves.