Paving the Way for the First Direct Gravitational-Wave Discovery through Improved Noise Budgeting and Detector Characterization

爱因斯坦发现的广义相对论告诉我们，人们熟悉的日常引力是某种更奇怪的东西的表现：物质扭曲了时空的几何形状。在该理论的关键预测中，包括膨胀的宇宙和黑洞的存在，是引力波(GW)的存在：大质量的快速运动导致时空几何中以光速运动的涟漪。虽然在对致密恒星的双星系统的间接影响方面得到了很好的测试，但直接探测入射到地球上的引力波构成了一个突出的挑战。实现这一能力的科学回报将是巨大的--从探索恒星爆炸的极端动力学到收集几乎在大爆炸时刻的宇宙状态信息。这一新的宇宙窗口的努力占据了几十年的实验和技术发展，推动了物理科学中不同领域的边界。2015年将是引力波物理学备受期待的分水岭时刻：两个先进的激光干涉仪引力波天文台(ALIGO)探测器将开始进行初始数据采集，随后欧洲先进的处女座引力波观测站将投入使用。ALIGO探测器的灵敏度将提高到比第一代探测器高约十倍，为观测GW源开辟了一个比以前大1000倍的空间体积。该奖项支持有助于LIGO在未来几年实现设计灵敏度的研究，因为它有助于更完整地说明噪声源和探测器的特性。这最终将导致GW数据向公众发布，并带有强大的数据质量标志。通过增强整个社区的能力来支持科学发现是该项目的一个主要目标。此外，研究人员将继续在普尔曼和三城的WSU校区聘请教师，通过讲座和实验室练习向本科生传授GW科学知识。后一个校园迎合了很大比例的西班牙裔和美洲原住民人口，这两个群体的比例都很低，并提供了一个罕见的环境，可以将大学教育与附近实验室进行的尖端引力研究结合起来。就在我们说话的时候，aLIGO探测器正在投入使用。这些宽带探测器还将针对来自多个来源的GW进行探测，例如双星黑洞、自转的非轴对称中子星、核心坍塌超新星以及天体物理或宇宙起源的随机GW背景。他们将通过解决其干涉测试质量光学元件的4公里间隔的变化来实现这一点，这些光学元件的大小是原子的十亿分之一。WSU团队将把安装在LIGO中的多个新传感器集成到干涉仪噪声预算模型中，并致力于缩小其预测和观测到的噪声底限之间的任何差距。

The General Theory of Relativity discovered by Einstein tells us that the familiar, everyday force of gravity is a manifestation of something much stranger: the bending of the geometry of space-time by matter. Among the key predictions of the theory, which includes the expanding Universe and the existence of black holes, is the existence of gravitational waves (GW): ripples moving at the speed of light in the geometry of space-time caused by the fast motion of large masses. Although well tested in terms of their indirect effects on binary systems of compact stars, the direct detection of gravitational waves incident on Earth poses an outstanding challenge. The scientific rewards from achieving this ability would be enormous - ranging from probing the extreme dynamics of exploding stars to gleaning information about the state of the Universe almost at the moment of the Big Bang itself. The effort to enable this new window on the universe has occupied several decades of experimental and technological developments that have pushed the boundaries across diverse fields in the physical sciences. The year 2015 will mark a highly-anticipated watershed moment for gravitational-wave physics: The two advanced Laser Interferomenter Gravitational Wave Observatory (aLIGO) detectors will start their initial data taking runs, followed by the commissioning of the advanced Virgo gravitational wave observatory in Europe. The sensitivity of the aLIGO detector will be ramped up to become about ten times better than that of the first-generation detectors, opening up a spatial volume for observing GW sources that will be 1000 times larger than before. This award supports research that helps aLIGO to achieve design sensitivity in the coming years by contributing to a more complete accounting of sources of noise and characterization of the detectors. This will eventually lead to the publishing of GW data to the public with robust data quality flags. Supporting scientific discoveries by empowering the community at large is a primary goal of this project. Additionally, the researchers will continue to engage the faculty of the WSU campuses in Pullman and Tri-Cities to teach undergraduate students about GW science both through lectures and lab exercises. The latter campus caters to a large percentage of Hispanic and Native-American populations, both of which are under-represented, and offers a rare setting for integrating university education with cutting-edge research in gravitation being carried out at a nearby lab.The aLIGO detectors are being commissioned as we speak. These broadband detectors will also target the detection of GWs from multiple sources, such as binary black holes, spinning non-axisymmetric neutron stars, core collapse supernovae, and stochastic GW background of astrophysical or cosmological origins. They will accomplish this by resolving changes in the 4-km separations of its interferometric test mass optics that are a billionth the size of an atom. The WSU team will integrate the multiple new sensors that have been installed in aLIGO into the model of the interferometer noise budget and work on reducing any gap between its prediction and the observed noise floor.