Gravitational Wave Astronomy at the University of Birmingham, STFC Equipment Call 2018

伯明翰大学引力波天文学，STFC 设备电话会议 2018

• 批准号: ST/S002154/1
• 负责人: Denis Martynov
• 金额: $ 10.37万
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2018 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FS002154%2F1
• 关键词: Gravitational; Wave; Astronomy; University; Birmingham

On September 14, 2015 LIGO directly detected gravitational waves (GWs), completing the quest for the experimental confirmation of a fundamental prediction of Einstein's theory of general relativity.With this observation, followed by another five signals, we have shown the existence of heavy stellar-mass black holes, and established that binary black holes can form and merge within a Hubble time. On August 17, 2017, we detected GW170817, the first observed coalescence of a binary neutron star. The LIGO-VIRGO low-latency 3-dimensional sky localisation enabled the discovery of its optical counterpart and the identification of its host galaxy, which was followed by a remarkable observational campaign of the post-merger remnant across the full electromagnetic spectrum GW observations are already transforming our understanding of black holes, neutron stars, their formation and evolution, the state of matter in the most extreme conditions, and the behaviour of dynamical, strong-field gravity in previously untested regimes. However, this knowledge will be even further advanced once the sensitivity of the GW detectors is improved. Currently, the LIGO sensitivity is diminished by technical control noises below 30 Hz. At higher frequencies, the sensitivity is limited by the quantum noises which are triggered by fundamental vacuum fluctuations of electromagnetic fields. If no new technology is developed, future GW observatories, such as the Einstein Telescope in Europe or LIGO Voyager and Cosmic Explorer in the U.S., will face similar limits. In this proposal, we seek to experimentally demonstrate two new technologies: a 6 degree-of-freedom (6D) seismometer and a quantum filter. In the future, 6D seismometers and quantum filters will increase the signal-to-noise ratio of individual GW sources, expanding the astrophysical reach of the detectors, and will vastly augment the amount of time the source is in band, with spectacular consequences for electromagnetic follow-up campaigns.

2015年9月14日，LIGO直接探测到了引力波，完成了对爱因斯坦广义相对论基本预言的实验验证。通过这次观测，以及随后的五个信号，我们证明了恒星质量的重黑洞的存在，并确定了双黑洞可以在哈勃时间内形成并合并。2017年8月17日，我们探测到了GW 170817，这是第一个观测到的双中子星星的合并。LIGO-VIRGO低延迟三维天空定位使其光学对应物的发现和其宿主星系的识别成为可能，随后是在整个电磁频谱中对合并后残余物的显着观测活动GW观测已经改变了我们对黑洞，中子星，它们的形成和演化，最极端条件下物质的状态，以及动力学的强场引力在以前未经测试的状态下的行为。然而，一旦GW探测器的灵敏度得到提高，这种知识将得到进一步的发展。目前，LIGO的灵敏度会因低于30 Hz的技术控制噪声而降低。在较高的频率下，灵敏度受到由电磁场的基本真空涨落触发的量子噪声的限制。如果不开发新技术，未来的GW天文台，如欧洲的爱因斯坦望远镜或美国的LIGO旅行者和宇宙探索者，将面临类似的限制。在这个提议中，我们试图通过实验证明两种新技术：6自由度（6D）地震计和量子滤波器。在未来，6D地震仪和量子滤波器将提高单个GW源的信噪比，扩大探测器的天体物理范围，并将大大增加源在带内的时间，对电磁后续活动产生巨大影响。