Gravitational Waves

Gravitational Waves

Subject : Science and technology

Section: Space technology

Concept :

• The collaboration between LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA is crucial for unraveling the mysteries of gravitational waves. These detectors work together to decipher the subtle disturbances in spacetime caused by massive celestial objects.

LIGO Historic Breakthrough Continues:

• After a hiatus, LIGO has recently resumed its operations following a significant upgrade.
• The upgraded version is approximately 40% more sensitive than its predecessor, enabling it to detect fainter and more distant gravitational waves.
• The latest observation run commenced on April 1, 2023, and is expected to span approximately two years.
• During this period, LIGO will actively search for gravitational waves generated by phenomena such as black hole mergers, neutron star collisions, and supernovae.

Collaboration between LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA

• The collaboration between LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA is crucial for unraveling the mysteries of gravitational waves.
• These detectors work together to decipher the subtle disturbances in spacetime caused by massive celestial objects.
• To enhance the sensitivity of the instruments, additional vacuum pipes with mirrors have been constructed as part of the upgrade. These vacuum pipes reduce noise and minimize mirror jitter, enabling more precise measurements.
• While Virgo experienced delays in restarting due to technical issues, KAGRA has resumed its operations on May 24.
• KAGRA will join LIGO’s ongoing experimental run before undergoing further commissioning in the following month. Looking ahead, LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA is anticipated to be joined by LIGO-India later in the decade, with some components of LIGO-India being constructed using spare parts from the original LIGO project.
• This collaborative effort demonstrates the continuous advancements in gravitational-wave research and the promising future discoveries it holds.
• VIRGO:
• Virgo is located near Pisa in Italy. The Virgo Collaboration is currently composed of approximately 650 members from 119 institutions in 14 different countries including Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain.
• KAGRA:
• The Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector (KAGRA): The KAGRA detector is located in Kamioka, Gifu, Japan. The host institute is the Institute of Cosmic Ray Researches (ICRR) at the University of Tokyo.
• This interferometer is underground and uses cryogenic mirrors. It has 3 km arms.

For further reference, refer – https://optimizeias.com/ligo-and-virgo/