Last Updated:
12 June 2011
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Sheon Chua
LIGO-Australia On the Crest of the Wave
In its recently completed Roadmap for the future of gravitational wave science, the Gravitational Wave International Committee (GWIC) highlighted the importance of a detector in the southern hemisphere to complement the already planned northern hemisphere detectors, as both a tool for physics and astronomy. To make such a detector a reality, ACIGA has teamed with the LIGO Laboratory in the US to propose LIGO-Australia.
The LIGO Laboratory, with key contributions from its UK, German and Australian partners, is in the midst of constructing three Advanced LIGO detectors, ultra-sensitive laser interferometers with 4 km long arms, capable of detecting gravitational waves from the collision and merger of black holes and neutron stars at a distance of more than one billion light-years. Under the terms of the proposal, LIGO will supply Australia with the designs and all hardware for one of the three Advanced LIGO detectors. In return, ACIGA will construct the facility needed to house the detector and will take responsibility to assemble commission and operate the detector. Together, they would operate the three detectors (two in the US and one in Australia) in a closely coordinated fashion.
The project is an ambitious one. The vacuum system required for the operation of the detectors would be the largest ultra-high vacuum system in the southern hemisphere, matched in the world only by the two US LIGO sites. During the construction, the ACIGA team will work with the LIGO team to master the state-of-the-art skills needed to bring the detectors to their full design sensitivity—able to measure a differential change in the length of the 4km arms of less than 1/10,000 of the diameter of a proton!). The cost to construct this facility and to install and commission the detectors is estimated at $140M (in 2010 dollars) with subsequent operating costs of about $6M per year. The value of the design and hardware provided by the LIGO Laboratory is approximately equal to this cost, making this truly a partnership of equals. The US National Science Foundation, which provides the funding to the LIGO Laboratory, has given its full approval to this project, provided Australia can make a commitment by October 2011. The University of Western Australia, on behalf of the five ACIGA universities has submitted a proposal to the Australian government for funding its share.
If the LIGO-Australia proposal is accepted, the three Advanced LIGO detectors will form the backbone of an international network including Advanced Virgo (in Italy), GEO-HF in Germany and LCGT in Japan, all working together to explore the physics and astronomy of gravitational waves and their sources.
You can read the full proposal at the links below:
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LIGO-Australia Proposal PDF - High Resolution (13MB) |
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