Oregon Experimental Relativity Group: Monitoring, Measuring and Mitigating Environmental Influences on LIGO

University Of Oregon Eugene, Eugene OR

Investigators

Abstract

On February 11, 2016, the era of gravitational wave astronomy began with NSF's Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) announcement of the detection of a black hole merger. This first detection led to a Nobel prize and spectacularly confirmed predictions of general relativity, but it also opened a new window on the universe, promising many more discoveries. This award will help make these discoveries by contributing to the monitoring and measuring of environmental influences on the LIGO detectors. By helping improve LIGO’s performance, this research will contribute to human understanding of fundamental aspects of the cosmos, an endeavor that is widely believed to have intrinsic societal benefits. The broad public interest in LIGO discoveries excites interest in STEM, also a societal benefit. The awardees will work with LIGO site employees to upgrade and improve the sensor arrays (seismometers, accelerometers, magnetometers, etc.) and the injection equipment (equipment for injecting environmental signals) so that the system can be used for measuring coupling and vetting detections. The awardees will help measure the coupling of the environment to the LIGO detectors as the next observing run (O4) approaches. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.