Published July 2009 | Version public
Journal Article

LIGO: the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory
  • 2. ROR icon Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics
  • 3. ROR icon University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
  • 4. ROR icon Stanford University
  • 5. ROR icon Louisiana State University
  • 6. ROR icon University of Florida
  • 7. ROR icon University of Birmingham
  • 8. ROR icon Leibniz University Hannover
  • 9. ROR icon Montana State University
  • 10. ROR icon University of Glasgow
  • 11. ROR icon University of Western Australia
  • 12. ROR icon Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • 13. ROR icon Columbia University
  • 14. ROR icon The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
  • 15. ROR icon San Jose State University
  • 16. ROR icon Lomonosov Moscow State University
  • 17. ROR icon Washington State University
  • 18. ROR icon University of Oregon
  • 19. ROR icon Syracuse University
  • 20. ROR icon Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
  • 21. ROR icon University of Maryland, College Park
  • 22. ROR icon University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • 23. ROR icon Goddard Space Flight Center
  • 24. ROR icon University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
  • 25. ROR icon University of Sannio
  • 26. ROR icon University of Mississippi
  • 27. ROR icon Charles Sturt University
  • 28. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 29. ROR icon Carleton College
  • 30. ROR icon University of Melbourne
  • 31. ROR icon Cardiff University
  • 32. ROR icon Eötvös Loránd University
  • 33. ROR icon University of Salerno
  • 34. ROR icon University of Sheffield
  • 35. ROR icon Pennsylvania State University
  • 36. ROR icon Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • 37. ROR icon Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
  • 38. ROR icon University of Rochester
  • 39. ROR icon The University of Texas at Austin
  • 40. ROR icon Australian National University
  • 41. ROR icon Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University
  • 42. ROR icon University of Minnesota
  • 43. ROR icon University of Southampton
  • 44. ROR icon Northwestern University
  • 45. ROR icon National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
  • 46. ROR icon Institute of Applied Physics
  • 47. ROR icon University of Strathclyde
  • 48. ROR icon Loyola University Chicago
  • 49. ROR icon Hobart and William Smith Colleges
  • 50. ROR icon Louisiana Tech University
  • 51. ROR icon Andrews University
  • 52. ROR icon University of the Balearic Islands
  • 53. ROR icon Sonoma State University
  • 54. ROR icon Trinity University
  • 55. ROR icon Rochester Institute of Technology
  • 56. ROR icon Southeastern Louisiana University

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 10^(21). With this unprecedented sensitivity, the data are being analyzed to detect or place limits on GWs from a variety of potential astrophysical sources.

Additional Information

© 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd. Received 2 March 2009, in final form 1 May 2009. Published 30 June 2009. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the United States National Science Foundation for the construction and operation of the LIGO Laboratory and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council of the UK, the Max-Planck- Society and the State of Niedersachsen/Germany for support of the construction and operation of the GEO600 detector. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the support of the research by these agencies and by the Australian Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India, the Department of Science and Technology of India, the Spanish Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Leverhulme Trust, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Research Corporation and the Alfred P Sloan Foundation.

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
16056
DOI
10.1088/0034-4885/72/7/076901
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20090925-102147548

Related works

Funding

NSF
Max-Planck-Society
Australian Research Council
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (India)
Department of Science and Technology (India)
Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia (MEC)
NASA
John Simon Guggenheim Foundation
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Leverhulme Trust
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Research Corporation
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
State of Niedersachsen/Germany

Dates

Created
2009-10-06
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2023-03-16
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
TAPIR , LIGO , Physics Department