LIGO: The laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory

BP Abbott; R Abbott; R Adhikari; P Ajith; B Allen; G Allen; RS Amin; SB Anderson; WG Anderson; MA Arain; M Araya; H Armandula; P Armor; Y Aso; S Aston; P Aufmuth; C Aulbert; S Babak; P Baker; S Ballmer; C Barker; D Barker; B Barr; P Barriga; L Barsotti; MA Barton; I Bartos; R Bassiri; M Bastarrika; B Behnke; M Benacquista; J Betzwieser; PT Beyersdorf; IA Bilenko; G Billingsley; R Biswas; E Black; JK Blackburn; L Blackburn; D Blair; B Bland; TP Bodiya; L Bogue; R Bork; V Boschi; S Bose; PR Brady; VB Braginsky; JE Brau; DO Bridges; M Brinkmann; AF Brooks; DA Brown; A Brummit; G Brunet; A Bullington; A Buonanno; O Burmeister; RL Byer; L Cadonati; JB Camp; J Cannizzo; KC Cannon; J Cao; L Cardenas; S Caride; G Castaldi; S Caudill; M Cavagli; C Cepeda; T Chalermsongsak; E Chalkley; P Charlton; S Chatterji; S Chelkowski; Y Chen; N Christensen; CTY Chung; D Clark; J Clark; JH Clayton; T Cokelaer; CN Colacino; R Conte; D Cook; TRC Corbitt; N Cornish; D Coward; DC Coyne; JDE Creighton; TD Creighton; AM Cruise; RM Culter; A Cumming; L Cunningham; SL Danilishin; K Danzmann; B Daudert; G Davies; EJ Daw

Journal article

LIGO: The laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory

BP Abbott, R Abbott, R Adhikari, P Ajith, B Allen, G Allen, RS Amin, SB Anderson, WG Anderson, MA Arain, M Araya, H Armandula, P Armor, Y Aso, S Aston, P Aufmuth, C Aulbert, S Babak, P Baker, S Ballmer Show all

Reports on Progress in Physics | IOP PUBLISHING LTD | Published : 2009

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

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 operatin..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Andrew Melatos Author

Grants

Awarded by National Science Foundation

Funding Acknowledgements

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.