Advanced LIGO Operations Support

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Most of our knowledge about the Universe at large has been derived from what scientists refer to as "electromagnetic radiation" - ranging from radio waves through infrared radiation and light, to X-rays and gamma rays. This has changed dramatically on September 14, 2015 when we directly detected for the first time ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves. The observation of the first gravitational-wave signal (GW150914) generated by the collision of two black holes has opened a new chapter in astronomy. We have discovered binary black holes, and learnt that every 15 minutes somewhere in the Universe two heavy stellar-mass black holes collide. In fact, since September 2015 we have observed nine more collisions of this kind and we are currently analysing a new set of data that contain approximately 40 candidate signals. On August 17, 2017 we observed GW170817, the first merger of a binary neutron star. Electro-magnetic radiation generated in the aftermath of the collision of the two neutron stars was then detected across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from gamma-rays to radio waves, in possibly the most intense observational campaign of a single object in the history of astronomy. Another likely binary neutron star merger has been recently observed during the first part of the science run currently in progress.The goal of this proposal is to continue to operate the LIGO instrument and use signals from merging black holes and neutron stars to learn more about the evolution of these objects, stars, matter in extreme conditions, and to test our understanding of gravity itself. We will be also begin to install and commission new technological solutions for the first upgrade of these instruments which should begin observing in 2024 and allow much weaker signals to be observed, enable studies and hopefully provide surprising discoveries.