2023-10-30 05:00:18
Researchers at the world’s largest gravitational wave observatory, LIGO, have just taken a new step in the control of light. An innovative technique, called “frequency-dependent compression”, significantly increases the detection of gravitational waves.
The LIGO project (LIGO (for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) is a project…) operates at two detection sites: one near Hanford, Washington, and another near Livingston, Louisiana.
Credit: LIGO Collaboration
The observed phenomenon concerns the detection of fine undulations in space-time. The Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has improved its ability to identify collisions of black holes and neutron stars. Lee McCuller, assistant professor of physics at Caltech, says this advance opens new perspectives in astronomy. stars, seeking to explain…).
Gravitational waves are formed during the movement of massive objects in space. Very massive objects, such as neutron stars or black holes, generate measurable waves. The LIGO detector identifies them by measuring the space-time deformations that they induce. These deformations are often tiny, of the order of thousandths of the size of a proton (The proton is a subatomic particle carrying an elementary electric charge…) or a neutron (The neutron is a subatomic particle with an electric charge… total zero.).
The main challenge lies in quantum noise, due to the spontaneous interactions of subatomic particles. This noise disrupts the sensitivity of the LIGO detector. Researchers therefore used Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle to overcome these limitations. By “compressing” certain properties of light (Light is all the electromagnetic waves visible to the eye…), they succeeded in reducing noise and improving detection.
The frequency-dependent compression technique works a bit like pinching a balloon: by “pinching” a property of light, we move one of the uncertainties towards the other. Dhruva Ganapathy, a doctoral student at MIT, points out that this approach is the simplest to increase the sensitivity of LIGO without increasing costs.
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