Advanced LIGO Operations flat funding extension

LIGO是世界上最灵敏的干涉仪网络，致力于引力波（GW）的研究。探测器在2015年首次直接探测到了GWs，此后观察到了大量涉及中子星和黑洞的螺旋事件。检测器的灵敏度目前被认为受到干涉仪臂中的端镜表面上的杂质/夹杂物的散射的后果的限制。我们的LIGO操作工作的重点是调查这些问题，与加州理工学院的科学家合作，并通过直接实验室测量和模拟程序，看看散射效应的估计大小是否与实际机器中看到的干涉仪效应水平兼容。这项工作是与博士后研究员Tega Edo合作进行的，Tega Edo即将搬到加州理工学院，但他之前是谢菲尔德的博士后研究员。

LIGO is the worlds most sensitive network of interferometers dedicated to the study of gravitational waves (GWs). The detectors made the first direct detection of GWs in 2015, and a large number of inspiral events have since been observed involving neutron stars and black holes. The sensitivity of the detectors is currently thought to be limited by the consequences of scattering of impurities / inclusions on the surfaces of the end mirrors in the interferometer arms. Our LIGO Operations work is focused on investigating these problems, in collaboration with scientists at Caltech, and in seeing if the estimated magnitude of the scattering effects is compatible with the levels of interferometer effects seen in the actual machines, both through direct laboratory measurements and through a programme of simulations. The work is in collaboration with postdoctoral researcher Tega Edo, who is moving to Caltech, but who was previously a postdoctoral researcher at Sheffield.