Questions tagged [ligo]

Questions about the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), a large-scale physics experiment and observatory to detect cosmic gravitational waves.

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At the intersection of engineering and astronomy in its structure as a scientific discipline

Astronomy is the comprehensive study of what lies beyond the Earth. Modern astronomy (I relied on classifications from here and here) is divided into a large sections (astrophysics, astrogeology, ...
dtn's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
136 views

Telling bounces in LIGO interferometer

How do they know the number of times the laser bounces back and forth, in the 4 km arms of the interferometer, before the laser light is picked out to the reading sensor? See under “The Longer The ...
Peter's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
593 views

Are gravitational waves emitted equally in all directions?

I have a question regarding gravitational waves that I can't figure out. Hope some wise minds here can help a simple amateur without technical or scientific education. Two black holes rotating around ...
Peter's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
300 views

Can LIGO distinguish rotating and non rotating black hole collisions?

I am assuming two rotating black holes create gravitational waves as they collide.
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11 votes
1 answer
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Can the Hubble constant be measured directly?

By my calculations, the expansion of the universe should cause LIGO’s interferometers to alternate between constructive interference and destructive interference every couple days. Is this a practical ...
Spencer Joplin's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
51 views

How would white light cavities (WLC) work for gravitational wave detection?

A study done by Michael A. Page, Maxim Goryachev, Haixing Miao, and peers states that WLCs can be used to improve the sensitivity of LIGO. LIGO currently uses photons (for very constant speed at which ...
Gursimran Randhawa's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
179 views

Response function of LIGO

"Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory" (LIGO) is a marvel of precise engineering and the world's largest gravitational wave observatory. LIGO, which consists of two massive ...
Junaid Ihsan's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
106 views

In what year (2014?) the gravitational wave triggered by this merger was possibly generated?

Re: "A transient radio source consistent with a merger-triggered core collapse supernova" https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abg6037 Actually the described merger consisted of two ...
Alex's user avatar
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15 votes
3 answers
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Why are there not yet any instruments dedicated to registering time dilation caused by passing gravitational waves?

Why are there not yet any instruments dedicated to registering time dilation caused by passing gravitational waves? Wouldn't it be interesting to augment LIGO/Virgo capturing of space distortion with ...
Alex's user avatar
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-11 votes
2 answers
288 views

Is a Hertz ratio to 65M ☉ proof that Betelgeuse had a core collapse in 1491 from a gravitational wave on January 14, 2020? [closed]

By analysis of gravity waves GW150914 to S200114f when compared to a ratio from the Black Hole merger of 65 M ☉ at 260 Hz with Betelgeuse frequency of 64.698303 Hz the gravitational release on January ...
Tom E. O'Neil's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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Was quantum metrology important for gravitational-wave astronomy?

This article from 2010 titled Quantum metrology for gravitational wave astronomy, 6 years before the announcement of the first direct detection of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger, ...
Daddy Kropotkin's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
382 views

How can there only be "11 phonons" in the mirrors of LIGO interferometers?

LIGO is an incredibly sensitive detector of small changes in space due to the passing of gravitational waves and uses some very high-level mathematics and physics and experimental techniques to drive ...
uhoh's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Can Gravitational astronomy look beyond the CMB?

In another question dealing with the earliest explored phenomenon in the Universe the observing limit of the CMB was mentioned. Prior to CMB the Universe was opaque to photons, I believe. I'm ...
JohnHunt's user avatar
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6 votes
3 answers
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Expected nature of LISA's data; will it be more like a forest of static peaks, or a series of individual events?

@RobJeffries' clear answer to Which things “LIGO can see things that LISA can't”, and vice-versa? explains that the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna or LISA will only be sensitive to gravitational ...
uhoh's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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Which things can LIGO see that LISA can't, and vice-versa?

CNET's Astronomers discover two ferociously fast stars locked in a death spiral quotes Kevin Burdge, lead author on the new paper in Nature General relativistic orbital decay in a seven-minute-...
uhoh's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
445 views

Would LIGO Detect Head-On Collision?

Assume two black holes collide head-on. In other words, they were not orbiting one another before the collision. I know this is unlikely. Further assume that their sizes and distance from Earth are ...
James's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
893 views

LIGO gravitational wave chirp signal frequency

This question is about the LIGO gravitational wave signals' frequency. The signals start from about 35 Hz to peak at about 250 Hz, giving evidence of gravitational waves. The question is about the ...
user3483902's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
657 views

Does LIGO have a blind spot?

If I understand the principle of operation of operation of LIGO, it detects relative distortions of the two perpendicular arms. So if both arms are distorted the same way, nothing would be spotted. ...
SF.'s user avatar
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36 votes
7 answers
7k views

What did LIGO Actually See? (Gravitational waves discovery)

I am trying to find an original video/image of what LIGO actually saw, but all I can find is artist renditions of gravitational waves.
Scott Taylor's user avatar
2 votes
5 answers
2k views

Gravitational wave detection time difference between LIGO Livingston and LIGO Hanford

Quote from LIGO's news release: By looking at the time of arrival of the signals—the detector in Livingston recorded the event 7 milliseconds before the detector in Hanford—scientists can say that ...
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