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

该INSPIRE奖的部分资金来自数学和物理科学局物理部的LIGO研究支持计划和地球科学局地球科学部的地球物理计划。地震仪阵列通常用于地球物理、地震学和工程中，用于研究地震波的传播、探测和研究其震源，以及评估地球内部不同深度的性质。迄今为止，绝大多数地震计阵列都是基于地面的，这是因为安装很容易。该项目将建造和运行一个密集的、地下的、由13台高灵敏度宽带地震仪组成的三维阵列。该阵列将位于南达科他州的Homestake矿，其可接近的深度为4850英尺，巨大的水平跨度允许探测1英里长的地下立方体。该项目将现有的分析瞬变和随机波信号的引力物理和地球物理技术结合在一起，有望带来全新的地震数据分析技术。重要的是，这些研究结果还将对未来引力物理地下实验的设计产生深远影响，例如探索爱因斯坦相对论的等价性原理。未来的地下引力波探测器将观测各种天体物理现象和大爆炸的难以获得的信号，它也将基于在该项目中进行的地震噪声研究而设计。该项目将使地球物理和引力物理界之间的互动将是实质性的互惠互利。由于重力实验的未来可以说是在地下进行的，因此对引力物理界来说，从地球物理中关于地震噪声和地震波传播的大量知识中汲取经验是至关重要的。通过允许物理学家和地球物理学家团队在双方感兴趣的环境中共同分析这一独特的高质量数据，该项目将导致地震噪声层析成像方面的突破。这些突破将具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，让他们接触到地球物理和引力物理领域交叉领域的研究前沿。

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.