Gravitational waves are most simply thought of as ripples in the curvature of space-time, their effect being
to change the separation of adjacent masses on Earth or in space; this tidal effect is the basis of all present
detectors. Gravitational wave strengths are characterised by the gravitational-wave amplitude , given by
The problem for the experimental physicist is that the predicted magnitudes of the amplitudes or strains
in space in the vicinity of the Earth caused by gravitational waves even from the most violent astrophysical
events are extremely small, of the order of 10–21 or lower [273, 272
]. Indeed, current theoretical models on
the event rate and strength of such events suggest that in order to detect a few events per year – from
coalescing neutron-star binary systems, for example, an amplitude sensitivity close to 10–22 over timescales
as short as a millisecond is required. If the Fourier transform of a likely signal is considered it is
found that the energy of the signal is distributed over a frequency range or bandwidth, which is
approximately equal to 1/timescale. For timescales of a millisecond the bandwidth is approximately
1000 Hz, and in this case the spectral density of the amplitude sensitivity is obtained by dividing
10–22 by the square root of 1000. Thus, detector noise levels must have an amplitude spectral
density lower than
10–23 Hz–1/2 over the frequency range of the signal. Signal strengths at
the Earth, integrated over appropriate time intervals, for a number of sources are shown in
Figure 2
.
The weakness of the signal means that limiting noise sources like the thermal motion of
molecules in the critical components of the detector (thermal noise), seismic or other mechanical
disturbances, and noise associated with the detector readout, whether electronic or optical, must be
reduced to an extremely low level. For signals above 10 Hz ground based experiments are
possible, but for lower frequencies where local fluctuating gravitational gradients and seismic
noise on Earth become a problem, it is best to consider developing detectors for operation in
space [125
].
http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2011-5 |
Living Rev. Relativity 14, (2011), 5
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