LIGO: the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory

doi:10.1088/0034-4885/72/7/076901

LIGO: the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory

B P Abbott et al 2009 Rep. Prog. Phys. 72 076901 (25pp) doi: 10.1088/0034-4885/72/7/076901

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B P Abbott¹, R Abbott¹, R Adhikari¹, P Ajith², B Allen^2,3, G Allen⁴, R S Amin⁵, S B Anderson¹, W G Anderson³, M A Arain⁶, M Araya¹, H Armandula¹, P Armor³, Y Aso¹, S Aston⁷, P Aufmuth⁸, C Aulbert², S Babak⁹, P Baker¹⁰, S Ballmer¹, C Barker¹¹, D Barker¹¹, B Barr¹², P Barriga¹³, L Barsotti¹⁴, M A Barton¹, I Bartos¹⁵, R Bassiri¹², M Bastarrika¹², B Behnke⁹, M Benacquista¹⁶, J Betzwieser¹, P T Beyersdorf¹⁷, I A Bilenko¹⁸, G Billingsley¹, R Biswas³, E Black¹, J K Blackburn¹, L Blackburn¹⁴, D Blair¹³, B Bland¹¹, T P Bodiya¹⁴, L Bogue¹⁹, R Bork¹, V Boschi¹, S Bose²⁰, P R Brady³, V B Braginsky¹⁸, J E Brau²¹, D O Bridges¹⁹, M Brinkmann², A F Brooks¹, D A Brown²², A Brummit²³, G Brunet¹⁴, A Bullington⁴, A Buonanno²⁴, O Burmeister², R L Byer⁴, L Cadonati²⁵, J B Camp²⁶, J Cannizzo²⁶, K C Cannon¹, J Cao¹⁴, L Cardenas¹, S Caride²⁷, G Castaldi²⁸, S Caudill⁵, M Cavaglià²⁹, C Cepeda¹, T Chalermsongsak¹, E Chalkley¹², P Charlton³⁰, S Chatterji¹, S Chelkowski⁷, Y Chen^9,31, N Christensen³², C T Y Chung³³, D Clark⁴, J Clark³⁴, J H Clayton³, T Cokelaer³⁴, C N Colacino³⁵, R Conte³⁶, D Cook¹¹, T R C Corbitt¹⁴, N Cornish¹⁰, D Coward¹³, D C Coyne¹, J D E Creighton³, T D Creighton¹⁶, A M Cruise⁷, R M Culter⁷, A Cumming¹², L Cunningham¹², S L Danilishin¹⁸, K Danzmann^2,8, B Daudert¹, G Davies³⁴, E J Daw³⁷, D DeBra⁴, J Degallaix², V Dergachev²⁷, S Desai³⁸, R DeSalvo¹, S Dhurandhar³⁹, M Díaz¹⁶, A Dietz³⁴, F Donovan¹⁴, K L Dooley⁶, E E Doomes⁴⁰, R W P Drever⁴¹, J Dueck², I Duke¹⁴, J-C Dumas¹³, J G Dwyer¹⁵, C Echols¹, M Edgar¹², A Effler¹¹, P Ehrens¹, E Espinoza¹, T Etzel¹, M Evans¹⁴, T Evans¹⁹, S Fairhurst³⁴, Y Faltas⁶, Y Fan¹³, D Fazi¹, H Fehrmenn², L S Finn³⁸, K Flasch³, S Foley¹⁴, C Forrest⁴², N Fotopoulos³, A Franzen⁸, M Frede², M Frei⁴³, Z Frei³⁵, A Freise⁷, R Frey²¹, T Fricke¹⁹, P Fritschel¹⁴, V V Frolov¹⁹, M Fyffe¹⁹, V Galdi²⁸, J A Garofoli²², I Gholami⁹, J A Giaime^5,19, S Giampanis², K D Giardina¹⁹, K Goda¹⁴, E Goetz²⁷, L M Goggin³, G González⁵, M L Gorodetsky¹⁸, S Goßler², R Gouaty⁵, A Grant¹², S Gras¹³, C Gray¹¹, M Gray⁴⁴, R J S Greenhalgh²³, A M Gretarsson⁴⁵, F Grimaldi¹⁴, R Grosso¹⁶, H Grote², S Grunewald⁹, M Guenther¹¹, E K Gustafson¹, R Gustafson²⁷, B Hage⁸, J M Hallam⁷, D Hammer³, G D Hammond¹², C Hanna¹, J Hanson¹⁹, J Harms⁴⁶, G M Harry¹⁴, I W Harry³⁴, E D Harstad²¹, K Haughian¹², K Hayama¹⁶, J Heefner¹, I S Heng¹², A Heptonstall¹, M Hewitson², S Hild⁷, E Hirose²², D Hoak¹⁹, K A Hodge¹, K Holt¹⁹, D J Hosken⁴⁷, J Hough¹², D Hoyland¹³, B Hughey¹⁴, S H Huttner¹², D R Ingram¹¹, T Isogai³², M Ito²¹, A Ivanov¹, B Johnson¹¹, W W Johnson⁵, D I Jones⁴⁸, G Jones³⁴, R Jones¹², L Ju¹³, P Kalmus¹, V Kalogera⁴⁹, S Kandhasamy⁴⁶, J Kanner²⁴, D Kasprzyk⁷, E Katsavounidis¹⁴, K Kawabe¹¹, S Kawamura⁵⁰, F Kawazoe², W Kells¹, D G Keppel¹, A Khalaidovski², F Y Khalili¹⁸, R Khan¹⁵, E Khazanov⁵¹, P King¹, J S Kissel⁵, S Klimenko⁶, K Kokeyama⁵⁰, V Kondrashov¹, R Kopparapu³⁸, S Koranda³, D Kozak¹, B Krishnan⁹, R Kumar¹², P Kwee⁸, P K Lam⁴⁴, M Landry¹¹, B Lantz⁴, A Lazzarini¹, H Lei¹⁶, M Lei¹, N Leindecker⁴, I Leonor²¹, C Li³¹, H Lin⁶, P E Lindquist¹, T B Littenberg¹⁰, N A Lockerbie⁵², D Lodhia⁷, M Longo²⁸, M Lormand¹⁹, P Lu⁴, M Lubinski¹¹, A Lucianetti⁶, H Lück^2,8, B Machenschalk⁹, M MacInnis¹⁴, M Mageswaran¹, K Mailand¹, I Mandel⁴⁹, V Mandic⁴⁶, S Márka¹⁵, Z Márka¹⁵, A Markosyan⁴, J Markowitz¹⁴, E Maros¹, I W Martin¹², R M Martin⁶, J N Marx¹, K Mason¹⁴, F Matichard⁵, L Matone¹⁵, R A Matzner⁴³, N Mavalvala¹⁴, R McCarthy¹¹, D E McClelland⁴⁴, S C McGuire⁴⁰, M McHugh⁵³, G McIntyre¹, D J A McKechan³⁴, K McKenzie⁴⁴, M Mehmet², A Melatos³³, A C Melissinos⁴², D F Menéndez³⁸, G Mendell¹¹, R A Mercer³, S Meshkov¹, C Messenger², M S Meyer¹⁹, J Miller¹², J Minelli³⁸, Y Mino³¹, V P Mitrofanov¹⁸, G Mitselmakher⁶, R Mittleman¹⁴, O Miyakawa¹, B Moe³, S D Mohanty¹⁶, S R P Mohapatra²⁵, G Moreno¹¹, T Morioka⁵⁰, K Mors², K Mossavi², C MowLowry⁴⁴, G Mueller⁶, H Müller-Ebhardt², D Muhammad¹⁹, S Mukherjee¹⁶, H Mukhopadhyay³⁹, A Mullavey⁴⁴, J Munch⁴⁷, P G Murray¹², E Myers¹¹, J Myers¹¹, T Nash¹, J Nelson¹², G Newton¹², A Nishizawa⁵⁰, K Numata²⁶, J O'Dell²³, B O'Reilly¹⁹, R O'Shaughnessy³⁸, E Ochsner²⁴, G H Ogin¹, D J Ottaway⁴⁷, R S Ottens⁶, H Overmier¹⁹, B J Owen³⁸, Y Pan²⁴, C Pankow⁶, M A Papa^3,9, V Parameshwaraiah¹¹, P Patel¹, M Pedraza¹, S Penn⁵⁴, A Perraca⁷, V Pierro²⁸, I M Pinto²⁸, M Pitkin¹², H J Pletsch², M V Plissi¹², F Postiglione³⁶, M Principe²⁸, R Prix², L Prokhorov¹⁸, O Punken², V Quetschke⁶, F J Raab¹¹, D S Rabeling⁴⁴, H Radkins¹¹, P Raffai³⁵, Z Raics¹⁵, N Rainer², M Rakhmanov¹⁶, V Raymond⁴⁹, C M Reed¹¹, T Reed⁵⁵, H Rehbein², S Reid¹², D H Reitze⁶, R Riesen¹⁹, K Riles²⁷, B Rivera¹¹, P Roberts⁵⁶, N A Robertson^1,12, C Robinson³⁴, E L Robinson⁹, S Roddy¹⁹, C Röver², J Rollins¹⁵, J D Romano¹⁶, J H Romie¹⁹, S Rowan¹², A Rüdiger², P Russell¹, K Ryan¹¹, S Sakata⁵⁰, L Sancho de la Jordana⁵⁷, V Sandberg¹¹, V Sannibale¹, L Santamaría⁹, S Saraf⁵⁸, P Sarin¹⁴, B S Sathyaprakash³⁴, S Sato⁵⁰, M Satterthwaite⁴⁴, P R Saulson²², R Savage¹¹, P Savov³¹, M Scanlan⁵⁵, R Schilling², R Schnabel², R Schofield²¹, B Schulz², B F Schutz^9,34, P Schwinberg¹¹, J Scott¹², S M Scott⁴⁴, A C Searle¹, B Sears¹, F Seifert², D Sellers¹⁹, A S Sengupta¹, A Sergeev⁵¹, B Shapiro¹⁴, P Shawhan²⁴, D H Shoemaker¹⁴, A Sibley¹⁹, X Siemens³, D Sigg¹¹, S Sinha⁴, A M Sintes⁵⁷, B J J Slagmolen⁴⁴, J Slutsky⁵, J R Smith²², M R Smith¹, N D Smith¹⁴, K Somiya³¹, B Sorazu¹², A Stein¹⁴, L C Stein¹⁴, S Steplewski²⁰, A Stochino¹, R Stone¹⁶, K A Strain¹², S Strigin¹⁸, A Stroeer²⁶, A L Stuver¹⁹, T Z Summerscales⁵⁶, K-X Sun⁴, M Sung⁵, P J Sutton³⁴, G P Szokoly³⁵, D Talukder²⁰, L Tang¹⁶, D B Tanner⁶, S P Tarabrin¹⁸, J R Taylor², R Taylor¹, J Thacker¹⁹, K A Thorne¹⁹, A Thüring⁸, K V Tokmakov¹², C Torres¹⁹, C Torrie¹, G Traylor¹⁹, M Trias⁵⁷, D Ugolini⁵⁹, J Ulmen⁴, K Urbanek⁴, H Vahlbruch⁸, M Vallisneri³¹, C Van Den Broeck³⁴, M V van der Sluys⁴⁹, A A van Veggel¹², S Vass¹, R Vaulin³, A Vecchio⁷, J Veitch⁷, P Veitch⁴⁷, C Veltkamp², A Villar¹, C Vorvick¹¹, S P Vyachanin¹⁸, S J Waldman¹⁴, L Wallace¹, R L Ward¹, A Weidner², M Weinert², A J Weinstein¹, R Weiss¹⁴, L Wen^13,31, S Wen⁵, K Wette⁴⁴, J T Whelan^9,60, S E Whitcomb¹, B F Whiting⁶, C Wilkinson¹¹, P A Willems¹, H R Williams³⁸, L Williams⁶, B Willke^2,8, I Wilmut²³, L Winkelmann², W Winkler², C C Wipf¹⁴, A G Wiseman³, G Woan¹², R Wooley¹⁹, J Worden¹¹, W Wu⁶, I Yakushin¹⁹, H Yamamoto¹, Z Yan¹³, S Yoshida⁶¹, M Zanolin⁴⁵, J Zhang²⁷, L Zhang¹, C Zhao¹³, N Zotov⁵⁵, M E Zucker¹⁴, H zur Mühlen⁸ and J Zweizig¹
¹ LIGO—California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
² Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, D-30167 Hannover, Germany
³ Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA
⁴ Ginzton, E.L. Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
⁶ Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
⁷ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
⁸ Institut fur Gravitationsphysik, Leibniz Universität Hannover, D-30167 Hannover, Germany
⁹ Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, D-14476 Golm, Germany
¹⁰ Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
¹¹ LIGO—Hanford Observatory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
¹² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
¹³ School of Physics, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
¹⁴ LIGO—Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
¹⁵ Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
¹⁶ Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, Brownsville, TX 78520, USA
¹⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USA
¹⁸ Relativity Group, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119992, Russia
¹⁹ LIGO—Livingston Observatory, Livingston, LA 70754, USA
²⁰ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA
²¹ Department of Physics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
²² Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
²³ Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, HSIC, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, UK
²⁴ Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
²⁵ Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts - Amherst, MA 01003, USA
²⁶ NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
²⁷ Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
²⁸ Department of Engineering, University of Sannio at Benevento, I-82100 Benevento, Italy
²⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA
³⁰ Research Scool of Physics and Engineering, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia
³¹ Caltech-CaRT, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
³² Department of Physics and Astronomy, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057, USA
³³ School of Physics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3010, Australia
³⁴ School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK
³⁵ Institute of Physics, Eötvös University, ELTE 1053 Budapest, Hungary
³⁶ Department of Physics, University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano (Salerno), Italy
³⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
³⁸ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
³⁹ Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune - 411007, India
⁴⁰ Department of Physics, Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, LA 70813, USA
⁴¹ California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
⁴² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
⁴³ Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
⁴⁴ Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, 0200, Australia
⁴⁵ Department of Physics, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, AZ 86301, USA
⁴⁶ Department of Physics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
⁴⁷ School of Chemistry and Physics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
⁴⁸ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
⁴⁹ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
⁵⁰ National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
⁵¹ Institute of Applied Physics, Nizhny Novgorod, 603950, Russia
⁵² Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1XQ, UK
⁵³ Department of Physics, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA
⁵⁴ Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY 14456, USA
⁵⁵ Department of Physics, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA 71272, USA
⁵⁶ Department of Physics, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI 49104, USA
⁵⁷ Relativity and Gravitation Group, Universitat de les Illes Balears, E-07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
⁵⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA 94928, USA
⁵⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212, USA
⁶⁰ Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
⁶¹ Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA 70402, USA
E-mail: peter.fritschel@ligo.org

Abstract. The goal of the Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is to detect and study gravitational waves (GWs) of astrophysical origin. Direct detection of GWs holds the promise of testing general relativity in the strong-field regime, of providing a new probe of exotic objects such as black holes and neutron stars and of uncovering unanticipated new astrophysics. LIGO, a joint Caltech–MIT project supported by the National Science Foundation, operates three multi-kilometer interferometers at two widely separated sites in the United States. These detectors are the result of decades of worldwide technology development, design, construction and commissioning. They are now operating at their design sensitivity, and are sensitive to gravitational wave strains smaller than one part in 10²¹. With this unprecedented sensitivity, the data are being analyzed to detect or place limits on GWs from a variety of potential astrophysical sources.

Print publication: Issue 7 (July 2009)
Received 2 March 2009, in final form 1 May 2009
Published 30 June 2009

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LIGO: the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory

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