EAGLE · Exploring quantum Aspects of GravitationaL wavE detectors
7РП — „Хора“ (Действия „Мария Кюри“)
- Период
- 2014-03-01 → 2016-02-29
- Финансиране от ЕС
- 221 606 €
- Участници
- 1
- Схема
- MC-IIF
Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.
Накратко на български
Квантовият шум в детекторите за гравитационни вълни се изследва чрез числени модели и активни оптични филтри. Това помага за повишаване на чувствителността на уредите, за да се проучат по-точно динамиката на макроскопични обекти и физиката на силното гравитационно взаимодействие.
Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.
Резултати накратко
Exploring quantum Aspects of GravitationaL wavE detectors
On 14 September 2015, two Advanced LIGO detectors made the first direct detection of gravitational waves (GW) from two merging black holes. This discovery not only confirms the prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, but also provides us, for the first time, a probe into strong gravity physics and highly warped spacetime, which was inaccessible to us before. It marks the dawn of GW astronomy and opens an entirely new window into the universe, complementary to observations using electromagnetic waves and neutrinos. The core of Advanced LIGO is a Michelson laser interferometer with 4km arm length, which measures tiny displacements of mirror-endowed test masses induced by GWs. The peak amplitude of the event GW150914 that we detected, in terms of strain, is of the order of 10^-21, with the corresponding displacement of the test masses being 10^-19 meter. Such a high sensitivity is achieved by using the state-of-the-art techniques to reduce various noises---disturbances that mimic GW signals. The fact that advanced GW detectors are quantum-limited has two implications: (i) we have to manipulate quantum coherence to further improve the detector sensitivity, and (ii) advanced GW detectors will achieve sensitivity sufficient for probing the quantum dynamics of macroscopic test masses. These are the topics studied by Prof. Andreas Freise and Dr. Haixing Miao during this project. In particular, they have explored different approaches for reducing the quantum noise with both numerical modelling and analytical study, e.g., using the interaction between light and mechanical oscillator (or atomic gain medium) to create active optical filters that can enhance the detector response to GW signals. They also applied quantum measurement theory to investigate the general principle behind and studied the fundamental quantum limitation to GW detection, which leads to new ideas for designing the next-generation GW detectors that can probe further into the distant universe and unveil new astrophysical objects.
Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз
Цел на проекта
Gravitational-waves, predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity, will open up a new window into the universe. Directly detecting them and eventually extracting information about astronomical phenomena requires new instruments with extremely high sensitivity, which only became feasible recently. The current paradigm of gravitational-wave detectors uses kilometre-scale laser interferometers with suspended mirror-endowed test masses; the so-called advanced gravitational-wave detectors currently under construction are expected to achieve the first direct detection of gravitational waves. However, in order to establish gravitational wave detectors as efficient sources for astrophysical information, the signal to noise ratio of these instruments needs to be improved further. Advanced detectors are expected to be limited by quantum noise around their most sensitive band, which arises from fundamental quantum fluctuations in the optical field. On the one hand, this implies that we need to use quantum mechanics to describe them, and that we must manipulate the quantum coherence to enhance their sensitivities. On the other hand, they provide us, for the first time, with platforms for probing the quantum behaviour of macroscopic objects --- kilogram-scale test masses. In this project, we aim (i) to explore different approaches for reducing quantum noise and (ii) to study tests of quantum mechanics via precision measurements of quantum dynamics of the macroscopic test masses. In particular, we will (i) develop numerical tools for optimizing the quantum noise of complex interferometer configurations; (ii) use quantum measurement theory to better understand the fundamental quantum limit of gravitational wave detectors; and (iii) make a systematic study of how quantum dynamics of macroscopic test masses encode the information of possible modifications to quantum mechanics.
Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).
Участници
- THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM · BirminghamКоординаторОбединеното кралство
Връзки
Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз