Sensitivity and noise analysis of 4 km laser interferometric gravitational wave antennae
Name
58964895-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
6.49 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
87965ba4fffa5b153e9baa73a34db041
Author(s)
Adhikari, Rana, 1974-
Advisor(s)
Rainer Weiss and Peter Fritschel.
Date Issued
2004
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Around the world, efforts are underway to commission several kilometer-scale laser interferometers to detect gravitational radiation. In the United States, there are two collocated interferometers in Hanford, Washington and one interferometer in Livingston, Louisiana. Together, these three interferometers form the Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). The core of the work described in this thesis is the modeling and reduction of the noise in the interferometers which limits their ultimate sensitivity. A vital component of the noise reduction is the modeling, design, and implementation of [approximately]100 feedback control systems. The most critical of these systems are described and motivated. Although improvements are continuously being made to the stability and noise character of these detectors, several months of data have been collected. Various efforts are underway to search through these data for gravitational wave signals. Included here, is a description of a search made through the data for signals from the ringdown of the quasi-normal modes of Kerr black holes. In addition, several possible future improvements to the detectors are outlined.
Description
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2004.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-215).
Subjects
Physics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
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