Tag Archives: LIGO

Weber Bars Ring True?

Posted on December 21, 2013 by PlatoHagel

Gravitational Radiation Gravitational waves have a polarization pattern that causes objects to expand in one direction, while contracting in the perpendicular direction. That is, they have spin two. This is because gravity waves are fluctuations in the tensorial metric of … Continue reading →

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How to Find Black holes with Lasers

Posted on August 29, 2013 by PlatoHagel

In February 2013 I was invited by the Institute of Physics to give a lecture in the famous lecture theatre of the Royal Institution of Great Britainas part of their Physics in Perspective series. I was to expect about 400 … Continue reading →

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The LIGO and Virgo Gravitational-Wave Detectors

Posted on May 4, 2013 by PlatoHagel

An artist’s impression of two stars orbiting each other (left). The orbit shrinks as the system emits gravitational waves (middle). When the stars merge (right), there is a resulting powerful emission of gravitational waves. [Image: NASA] The LIGO and Virgo … Continue reading →

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Observational Gravitational-Wave Astronomy.

Posted on November 26, 2012 by PlatoHagel

Figure 1: Gravitational wave strain and strain sensitivity for a 5 year observation with PTAs.The red dashed line is the approximate strain sensitivity for current PTAs (11), and the greendashed line shows the previous estimate for the stochastic signal strength … Continue reading →

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Brian Clegg: Gravity

Posted on July 17, 2012 by PlatoHagel

A history of gravity, and a study of its importance and relevance to our lives, as well as its influence on other areas of science.  Physicists will tell you that four forces control the universe. Of these, gravity may the … Continue reading →

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Core Optics

Posted on June 26, 2012 by PlatoHagel

A pair of polished Advanced LIGO end mirrors (ETM’s) Core optics are the 40-kg masses that form the heart of a LIGO detector. A core optic is manufactured from fused silica, polished to a few nanometers of smoothness and coated … Continue reading →

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Holometer

Posted on December 2, 2010 by PlatoHagel

Holometer Revised This plot shows the sensitivity of various experiments to fluctuations in space and time. Horizontal axis is the log of apparatus size (or duration time the speed of light), in meters; vertical axis is the log of the … Continue reading →

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Gravity is Talking, LISA will Listen

Posted on October 28, 2009 by PlatoHagel

It seems by measure the Interferometer has come a long way. If one recognizes how gravitational waves are measured, you come to understand how they can have a affect on laser light. Bee and Stefan of Backreaction have gone to … Continue reading →

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Correlating Gravitational Wave Production in LIGO

Posted on September 22, 2009 by PlatoHagel

Drawing by Glen Edwards, Utah State University, Logan, UT The most important thing is to be motivated by your own intellectual curiosity.KIP THORNE ***   Fig. 1. The four forces (or interactions) of Nature, their force carrying particles and the … Continue reading →

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Gran Sasso and the Pyramid

Posted on July 27, 2008 by PlatoHagel

What good is a universe without somebody around to look at it?Robert Dicke This summer, CERN gave the starting signal for the long-distance neutrino race to Italy. The CNGS facility (CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso), embedded in the laboratory’s accelerator … Continue reading →

Posted in Calorimeters, Colour of Gravity, Game Theory, Gran Sasso, Kip Thorne, LIGO, Time Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment