CAREER: Detector Technology and Science Education in the Era of Gravitational Wave Astrophysics

职业：引力波天体物理时代的探测器技术和科学教育

• 批准号: 1352511
• 负责人: Stefan Ballmer
• 金额: $ 80万
• 依托单位: Syracuse University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2020-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1352511&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Detector; Technology; Science; Education

This CAREER award funds research at Syracuse University to support Advanced LIGO's quest to observe the gravitational wave universe. The research will include monitoring Advanced LIGO's data quality and developing hardware for upgrading the detectors. Specifically supported are i) The design and development of adaptive mode-matching for Advanced LIGO's output mode cleaner, enabling the use of non-classical squeezed-vacuum in the detector to improve the observational range. ii) A search for rare detector artifacts and low-level environmental correlations, prone to diminish the scientific return from Advanced LIGO. Einstein's general theory of relativity predicts that violent cosmic events, such as for example colliding neutron stars, lead to tiny distortions of space-time here on earth, measurable as minuscule fluctuations in the distance between suspended optical mirrors. The NSF-funded Advanced LIGO project intends to precisely measure these so-called gravitational waves. Advanced LIGO's sensitivity is limited by the quantization of light, but can be improved by using an additional non-classical light source. Such light sources are however extremely sensitive to optical losses. This award supports the development of adaptive elements in the beam path to guarantee that all the light coming from the interferometer can be detected. Additionally, environmental disturbances have the potential to mimic the tiny distance fluctuations due to gravitational waves. This award supports monitoring Advanced LIGO's data for such disturbances. The first direct observation of gravitational waves will be a scientific break-through echoed in the news media, providing an outreach opportunity. The award supports workshops for high school teachers to bring the excitement of new scientific discoveries in this brand-new field of astronomy to high school class rooms.

该职业奖资助雪城大学的研究，以支持高级 LIGO 观测引力波宇宙的探索。该研究将包括监测高级 LIGO 的数据质量和开发用于升级探测器的硬件。具体支持的是 i) 高级 LIGO 输出模式清洁器的自适应模式匹配的设计和开发，从而能够在探测器中使用非经典压缩真空来提高观测范围。 ii) 寻找罕见的探测器伪影和低水平的环境相关性，这可能会削弱高级 LIGO 的科学回报。爱因斯坦的广义相对论预测，剧烈的宇宙事件，例如中子星碰撞，会导致地球上时空的微小扭曲，可以通过悬挂光学镜之间距离的微小波动来测量。美国国家科学基金会资助的高级 LIGO 项目旨在精确测量这些所谓的引力波。高级 LIGO 的灵敏度受到光量化的限制，但可以通过使用额外的非经典光源来提高。然而，此类光源对光损耗极其敏感。该奖项支持光束路径中自适应元件的开发，以保证来自干涉仪的所有光线都能被检测到。此外，环境干扰有可能模仿引力波引起的微小距离波动。该奖项支持监测 Advanced LIGO 的数据以发现此类干扰。 对引力波的首次直接观测将是一项科学突破，并得到新闻媒体的响应，提供了一个推广机会。该奖项支持为高中教师举办研讨会，将这一全新天文学领域的新科学发现的兴奋带到高中课堂。