Keith Riles U. Michigan Physics Dept. Jackson Science Café Hudson Grill – December 8, 2011 Looking for Ripples in the Fabric of Space-Time: LIGO- the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory Presentation supported by the Michigan Space Grant Consortium and Jackson Community College
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Keith Riles U. Michigan Physics Dept. Jackson Science Café Hudson Grill – December 8, 2011 Looking for Ripples in the Fabric of Space-Time: LIGO- the.
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Keith Riles
U. Michigan
Physics Dept.
Jackson Science Café
Hudson Grill – December 8, 2011
Looking for Ripples in the Fabric of Space-Time:
LIGO- the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
Presentation supported by the Michigan Space Grant Consortium and Jackson Community College
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What are Gravitational Waves?
Recall that a wave is a disturbance that propagates:
Before we discuss wave propagation, we need to understand how space can be disturbed by anything!
Space itself!
What exactly is disturbed by a gravitational wave?
Courtesy: Prof. Andrew Davidhazy -
Rochester Institute of Technology
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Space deformationEinstein’s Field Equation:
Gμν = 8 π Tμν
And numerical solutions are tough too!
Except for handful of highly symmetric problems (e.g., spheres!), these equations must be solved numerically, not algebraically
Mathematically, this equation represents ten different coupled, partial differential equations relating the curvature of space (embodied in Gμν) to energy and momentum (embodied in Tμν)
“Matter tells spacetime how to curve, and curved space tells matter how to move"
But the essence of these equations is summed up nicely by general relativity pioneer John Wheeler:
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Courtesy: LIGO Laboratory
Space deformation“Rubber-sheet model” of space:
Heavy mass warps the “surface”, creating a depression
Another mass rolls toward the depression
And deepens it!
Highly “non-linear” equations
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Making wavesNow imagine two very compact stars (neutron stars or black holes) in a tight binary orbiting system:
Space is “swirled” by the orbiting stars, creating a ripple that propagates to distant regions of the universe (to us we hope!)
Courtesy Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Making wavesAre there really such star systems out there?
YES!
In 1974 Joseph Taylor and Russell Hulse discovered a binary system with two neutron stars, one of which is a pulsar
Observed 17-Hz pulsar
PSR 1913+16 Unseen companion (neutron star)
Orbital Period (“year”) is 7.75 hours
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Making wavesThe Taylor-Hulse binary system’s orbit shrinks about 3 mm every revolution
Coalescence in about 300 million years
So why is the orbit decaying?
Gravitational wave emission Energy loss!
Present orbital extent
Orbit slowly shrinking
Weisberg et al, 1981
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Making waves
Why are we so sure we understand the decay of this binary system?
By measuring the precise timing of pulsar signals, one can infer the present orbital parameters
Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity then predicts the rate of decay from gravitational radiation energy loss
Did Einstein get it right?
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Making waves
YES!
Graph at right shows the change in orbital period (seconds) over 25 years of observations
Smooth curve is absolute prediction from General Relativity (no free parameters!)
Dots are measured data
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Making waves
Can we detect this orbital system’s waves here on Earth?
NO
On Earth we can hope to see only waves with frequencies greater than ~10 Hz
The characteristic frequency for this system is ~1/(4 hours) ~ 70 μHz
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Making waves
Well, what if we waited around for 300 million years?
What might we “see”?
A Chirp!
Graphs show waveform for 4 different 1-second intervals near the end of the inspiral, a.k.a., “death spiral”
(in arbitrary but consistent units)
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Last nine secondsof inspiral
Making waves
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Nature of Gravitational Waves
How is the strength of a gravitational wave described?
By fractional change in distance, i.e., strain
Denote time-dependent dimensionless strain displacement (tiny!) by h(t):
ΔL(t) ~ h(t) x LL
ΔL
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Gravitational Waves from “Out There”
Imagine two neutron stars: Each with mass equal to 1.4 solar masses In circular orbit of radius 20 km (imminent coalescence) Resulting orbital frequency is 400 Hz (!) Resulting GW frequency is 800 Hz
Courtesy: Dr. Peter Shawhan - Caltech
Einstein predicts:
h ≈10−21
(distance/ 50 million light years)
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How small is 10-21 ?
0.000000000000000000001
million x million x million x thousand
1
or
diameter of an atom
distance from Earth to Sun
or
Experimental challenge! Well suited to high-precision interferometry
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Interference
Waves are characterized by their interference
– with other waves or with themselves
Courtesy: Prof. Andrew Davidhazy - Rochester Institute of Technology
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Interference
Constructive DestructivePartial
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Audio Interference Demonstration
Speaker 1
Speaker 2
With two audio speakers driven at same frequency (coherently), an interference pattern is set up in the room
Try plugging one ear and moving the other ear to sample the minima and maxima of the pattern
Courtesy: Wiley & Sons: Halliday/Resnick/Walker text
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Suspended Interferometers
What is an interferometer?
Courtesy: Wikipedia
Interference at detector depends on difference in lengths of two armsMichelson
Interferometer Demonstration
Gravitational waves cause length differences!
ΔL(t) ~ h(t) x L
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LIGO Observatories
Livingston
Hanford
Observation of nearly simultaneous signals 3000 km apart rules out terrestrial artifacts
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LIGO Detector Facilities
Vacuum System
• Stainless-steel tubes
(1.24 m diameter, ~10-8 torr)
• Protected by concrete enclosure
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LIGO Detector Facilities
LASER Infrared (1064 nm, 10-W) Nd-YAG laser from Lightwave (now commercial product!) Elaborate intensity & frequency stabilization system, including feedback from main
interferometer
Optics High-quality fused silica (25-cm diameter) Suspended by single steel wire Actuation of alignment / position via magnets & coils