A Search for Gravitational Radiation at LIGO: Oregon Experimental Relativity Group

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During the next three years, the Oregon Experimental Relativity Groupwill collaborate with the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, on the searchfor gravitational radiation with LIGO. Specifically, the Oregon groupwill play a large role in the development of an understanding of theenvironmental noise sources which would otherwise limit the sensitivityof LIGO. Environmental noise includes subtle effects such as straymagnetic field and cosmic ray interactions with detector elements whichmay limit LIGO's sensitivity after the initial phase of operation. TheOregon group will develop the environmental monitoring capabilities ofLIGO in the the areas of weather monitoring, magnetic fields, seismiccharacterization, cosmic ray studies, and gravity-gradient noise. Theywill develop analysis techniques, analyze interferometer data sets, andinvestigate the influence of these environmental factors on data. Theywill search for gravity wave signals, including signals correlated withgamma ray bursts.With the construction of LIGO, a new era of sensitivity togravitational radiation will begin. After LIGO commissioning, thefirst experiments attempting detection of the effects of gravity waveson the strain measurements in the LIGO interferometers will needcareful analysis of noise-dominated data streams. This will require acareful characterization of the noise, including the many sources ofenvironmental noise, and the correlation of these noise sources amonginterferometers.