RUI: Search for a Stochastic Background of Gravitational Radiation with LIGO and the ALLEGRO Resonant Detector

该项目利用LSU的ALLEGRO共振棒引力波探测器与LIGO利文斯顿天文台的接近性来搜索引力辐射的随机背景。ALLEGRO棒的新旋转能力允许通过交替地将棒与LIGO干涉仪对准和不对准来引入对信号的调制。这给了信号一个确定的周期性，并将其与任何不具有预期的引力辐射的四极空间依赖性的相关噪声区分开来。洛约拉大学的本科生将参与这个项目。引力辐射的随机背景可能是早期宇宙的遗迹，由暴胀或相变产生。目前对这种背景的限制非常宽松。因此，任何对引力波随机背景的观测或上限都可能带来关于宇宙的新信息。

This project takes advantage of the proximity of the ALLEGRO resonant bar gravitational wave detector at LSU to the LIGO Livingston Observatory to search for a stochastic background of gravitational radiation. The new ability of the ALLEGRO bar to rotate allows the introduction of a modulation to the signal by alternately aligning and mis-aligning the bar with the LIGO interferometer. This gives the signal a definite periodicity and distinguishes it from any correlated noise that does not have the expected quadrupolar spatial dependence of the gravitational radiation. Undergraduate students from Loyola University will participate in this project.A stochastic background of gravitational radiation could be a relic of the early Universe, produced by inflation or a phase transition. The current limits on such a background are very loosely constrained. Thus any observation or upper limit placed on a stochastic background of gravitational waves could bring new information about the Universe.