Introduction
Australian Interferometric Gravitational Observatory (AIGO) AIGO Australia is a research facility located near Gingin, Australian International Gravitational Research Centre
north of Perth in Western Australia.
The University of Western Australia, in partnership with ACIGA, is establishing AIGO on the Wallingup Plain, 85km north of Perth. Detailed "Mud Map" to AIGO.
AIGO is situated in pristine banksia bushland on the sand plain of Wallingup Plain which is designated State Forest No. 65.
Australian International Gravitational Observatory
Aerial view of the facility taken in September, 1999.
The Australian International Gravitational Observatory (AIGO) Located at Gingin
(115 degrees 42 minutes 30 seconds east, 31 degrees 21 minutes 30 seconds south.)
Construction of AIGO was completed in October 1999 and the installation of equipument and vacuum pipes was completed in 2000. The image above shows the main cornerstation consisting of the main laboratory (20m x 20m x 10m high) constructed from coolroom panels and surrounded on two sides by a workshop, clean down areas, meeting room, kitchen and accommodation units. The end stations are ~80m south and east of the cornerstation. The large northern window has a specially designed sun hood to allow sun to enter the main laboratory during winter but not during the heat of summer. Positive air pressure is maintained in the main laboratory to maintain a clean room atmosphere and this is supplied by an innovative air conditioning system which uses the cold temperatures of the ground water for cooling.
The Australian International Gravitational Research Centre (AIGRC) is a member of the
Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy (ACIGA) which includes:
- The University of Western Australia,
- The Australian National University,
- The University of Adelaide,
- CSIRO Lindfield and
- Monash University.
The First Stage of the
Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory in Australia
Australian International Gravitational Research Centre
The University of Western Australia - Department of Physics
The paper presents an overview of Australian experimental research in gravitational radiation detection and describes the research program of the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy which is constructing the first stage of the Australian International Gravitational Observatory.
AIGO, the Australian International Gravitational Observatory, was first proposed in 1989. It was then recognised that a large scale laser interferometer was required in the southern hemisphere to compliment planned detectors in the USA, Europe and Japan. During the following years four groups in Australia, in collaboration with many overseas groups, have developed advanced techniques for laser interferometry. In the same period the UWA cryogenic resonant mass gravitational wave detector, Niobe, was brought into long term operation and has operated at a burst sensitivity h~ 7 x 10-19 from 1993 to early 1998 when it was warmed up to install improvements.
Map left showing location of AIGO in relation to Perth, Australia.
In 1997 funding was received for the first stage of AIGO, in the form of an advanced research interferometer. This was to be an interferometer located in the AIGO cornerstation on site at Wallingup Plain near Gingin (see Figures 1 and 2), using full scale isolation and suspension systems and advanced interferometric techniques, but with reduced arm length. The interferometer will be upgraded to an observational arm length in the future, but in the interim will be used for extensive evaluation and development of advanced techniques on an 80 metre baseline. [2]
Gravitational Waves
Gravitational waves (GWs) are ripples in space-time which carry energy and angular momentum at the speed of light. Predicted by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, there has been to date only indirect evidence for their existence, through the observation of energy loss from binary pulsars (Weisberg and Taylor, 1984). Taylor and his student Hulse received the Nobel prize in 1993 for this proof of the existence of gravity waves. Numerous experiments have confirmed the underlying theory of General Relativity to a high degree of precision. Yet the direct observation of GWs is still necessary for the wave solutions of the Einstein's field equation to be fully investigated. More importantly, however, the ability to directly detect GWs will create a new kind of Astronomy.
Since antiquity, our only source of information about the stars has been through their electromagnetic radiation. Developments in technology have allowed us to expand our window on the universe from strictly visible variation to infrared, microwave, radio, ultra-violet, x-ray radiation. Gravitational wave astronomy offers an entirely new spectrum of radiation through which to explore the universe.
Because GWs are created by bulk motions of matter, and because normal matter is almost totally transparent to GW radiation, they offer the opportunity to listen in on regions and processes that are otherwise hidden from view, such as black hole births and the inner regions of a supernova core collapse. Whereas electromagnetic telescopes are our eyes on the universe, gravity wave detectors constitute "ears" which will allow us to "hear" for the first time the "sounds" produced by the universe. Information obtain will be complementary to electromagnetic observations, revealing processes which occur in the very core of cataclysmic astrophysical events and at the earliest moments of the Big Bang. New events will be recorded which are likely to ignite a revolution in astronomy comparable to that which followed the development of radio astronomy.
The most promising technology for gravitational wave (GW) detection is long baseline laser interferometry. A passing gravitational wave will alternately stretch then contract one arm of a Michelson interferometer whilst contracting then stretching the other arm. This slight variation is proportional to the size of the detector: it would be "as large" as the size of an atom if one could monitor the distance from the earth to the sun, and it will be about one billion times smaller in a detector several kilometres long. Such a small variation of distance can be detected through the phenomenon of interference.
For a general review on gravitational waves see the document by John S. Jacob, What are Gravitational Waves? (11 MB Power Point) and on their detection see the award winning review paper The Detection of Gravitational Waves by JuLi, GBlair and C.Zhao. [1]
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