Research on Gravitational Wave Detectors

这项提议要求支持一名年轻的研究人员和她的学生，他们正在进行一系列项目，这些项目与利用激光干涉仪引力波天文台探测引力波的实验工作有关。拟议的活动包括：对使LIGO达到其陆基探测器最终灵敏度目标所需的隔振系统进行实验研究；开发反馈系统所需的新的光学传感器，以控制大型LIGO光学系统，从而在有背景运动的情况下“锁定”干涉仪臂；开发新的诊断技术，以测量和评估产生重力梯度的地球运动，这种重力梯度可能限制先进探测器的灵敏度；开发分析技术，以便在存在背景噪声的情况下从LIGO数据流中提取引力波信号。PI是LIGO科学合作小组的领导人，该小组负责分析LIGO数据，寻找引力波“爆发”来源的证据，并对此类信号的幅度和速率设定上限。

This proposal requests support for a young investigator and her students who are working on a series of projects related to the experimental effort to detect gravitational waves with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). The proposed activities include; experimental studies of vibration isolation systems needed to enable LIGO to reach its ultimate sensitivity goal for terrestrial based detectors; development of new optical sensors needed in feedback systems to control the large LIGO optics and thereby "lock" the interferometer arms in the presence of background motion; development of new diagnostic techniques to measure and evaluate earth-motion that produces gravitational gradients that may limit the sensitivity of advanced detectors; development of analysis techniques to extract gravitational wave signals from the LIGO data stream in the presence of background noise.The PI is a leader in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration group that is charged with analyzing LIGO data for evidence of "burst" sources of gravitational waves and setting upper limits on amplitude and rates of such signals.