Physics Stack Exchange
Physics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [ligo]

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (short LIGO) is a large interferometer used for the detection of gravitational waves. Use this tag for questions about this specific installation; for questions more generally about the properties of gravitational waves or gravitation, use [gravitational-waves] and/or [general-relativity]

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (short LIGO) is an installation with two large interferometers in North America used for the detection of gravitational waves. It works closely together with the Virgo interferometer located in Italy.

226 questions
7
votes
1 answer

Why hasn't LIGO been able to detect the black hole merger statistics of events that are individually undetectable?

The recently published LIGO signal was extremely strong, this was detected using the upgraded, more sensitive version of the previous LIGO setup. Since the signal of a black hole merger is described by only a few parameters, this begs the question…
Count Iblis
  • 10,114
2
votes
1 answer

How does one derive theoretically the shot-noise limited sensitivity of LIGO?

It is said that LIGO can measure 1/1000 the width of a proton. How does one derive, using the design parameters of LIGO(arm length, laser power, etc.), its sensitivity?
aystack
  • 425
1
vote
2 answers

Can the LIGO detectors sense continental drift?

I know the detectors can sense earthquakes and the movement of the Pacific Ocean, and given the sensitivity of the arms to detect gravitational waves, it makes sense that they should detect continental drift, but I have been unable to find any…
Ghost in the bash
  • 11
1
vote
1 answer

How far from the LIGO event would we have to be to hear it?

I imagine that at some optimum distance the gravitational waves would create compression and rarefaction waves in air sufficiently loud to be heard by the human ear. What is that distance? The previous reference given came up with a change in length…
user56903
0
votes
0 answers

Simplified analytical model of LIGO signal

What is a simplified analytical model of the LIGO signal? It looks like a chirped sinusoid, but somewhat asymmetric. Wikipedia shows some pictures of these signals, but the signal model is generated using numerical relativity codes, which is…
user14717
  • 633
  • 1
  • 4
  • 17