INSPIRE Track 1: Three-Dimensional Seismometer Array at the Homestake Mine

INSPIRE奖的部分资金来自数学和物理科学理事会物理系的LIGO研究支持项目和地球科学理事会地球科学系的地球物理项目。地震仪阵列通常用于地球物理学、地震学和工程学，以研究地震波的传播，探测和研究地震波的来源，并评估地球内部不同深度的性质。迄今为止，由于易于安装，绝大多数地震仪阵列都是基于地面的。该项目将建造并运行一个密集的、地下的、由13个高灵敏度宽带地震仪组成的三维阵列。该阵列将位于SD Homestake矿，其可达深度为4850英尺，巨大的水平跨度允许探测地下1英里的立方体。该项目将现有的引力物理和地球物理技术结合起来，用于分析瞬态和随机波信号，预计将产生新的地震数据分析技术。重要的是，这些研究的结果也将对未来重力物理地下实验的设计产生深远的影响，例如爱因斯坦相对论等效原理的探测。未来的地下引力波探测器将观测到各种天体物理现象和大爆炸的其他难以接近的特征，也将基于该项目中进行的地震噪声研究来设计。这个项目将使地球物理学和引力物理学社区之间的相互作用成为可能，这将带来实质性的互利。由于重力实验的未来可能是在地下进行的，因此重力物理界从地球物理学中关于地震噪声和地震波传播的大量知识中汲取知识是至关重要的。通过允许物理学家和地球物理学家团队在共同感兴趣的环境中共同分析这种独特的高质量数据，该项目将导致地震噪声层析成像的突破。这些突破将有广泛的应用和社会影响，从无损材料检测到医学诊断，地球物理勘探（探测矿藏和石油）和国土安全（探测地下洞穴）。该项目还将培养几名研究生和本科生，使他们接触到地球物理和引力物理领域交叉研究的前沿。

This INSPIRE award is partially funded by the LIGO Research Support program in the Division of Physics in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Geophysics program in the Division of Earth Sciences in the Directorate of Geosciences. Seismometer arrays are commonly used in geophysics, seismology, and engineering to study the propagation of seismic waves, detect and study their sources, and assess properties of the Earth's interior at various depths. The vast majority of seismometer arrays to date have been surface-based due to the ease of installation. This project will build and operate a dense, underground, three-dimensional array of 13 high-sensitivity broadband seismometers. The array will be located at the Homestake mine, SD, whose accessible depth of 4850 feet and vast horizontal span allow probing a 1-mile underground cube. Bringing together the existing techniques in gravitational physics and geophysics for analysis of transient and stochastic wave signals, this project is expected to give rise to qualitatively new seismic data analysis techniques. Importantly, results of these studies will also have a profound impact on the design of future underground experiments in gravitational physics, such as probes of the Equivalence Principle of Einstein's theory of relativity. Future underground gravitational-wave detectors that will observe otherwise inaccessible signatures of various astrophysical phenomena and of the Big Bang will also be designed based on the seismic noise studies conducted within this project.This project will enable interactions between the geophysics and gravitational physics communities that would be of substantial mutual benefit. Since the future of gravity experiments is arguably underground, it is critical for the gravitational physics community to draw from the large body of knowledge in geophysics on seismic noise and seismic wave propagation. By allowing a team of physicists and geophysicists to work together on the analysis of this unique high-quality data in a mutually interesting environment, this project will lead to breakthroughs in seismic noise tomography. Such breakthroughs will have a broad range of applications and societal implications, ranging from nondestructive material testing to medical diagnosis, geophysical prospecting (detecting mineral deposits and oil), and homeland security (detecting underground cavities). The project will also educate several graduate and undergraduate students, exposing them to the frontiers of research at the intersection of the fields of geophysics and gravitational physics.