LIGO Mirror Used In reaching a quantum state
21 Jun 2021 17:29:34 UTC
Topic 225585
(moderation:
Hi,
Excerpt from article in Science Daily:
The researchers took advantage of the ability of the Laser Interfrometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) to measure the motion of the masses with extreme precision and super-cool the collective motion of the masses to 77 nanokelvins, just shy of the object's predicted ground state of 10 nanokelvins..
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/06/210617143625.htm
Enjoy
Joe B
Alas one has to be an AAAS
)
Alas one has to be an AAAS member to view the primary source on this. I'd be interested to know (a) how they've combined 4 x 40kg masses into an effective inertial mass of 10kg, and (b) deduced a 77 nano-Kelvin temperature equivalence from whatever degree of freedom of said effective mass. I think that what they are saying is for the motions of interest for GW detection they've managed to reduce the noise in that channel to near the quantum the limit. That's pretty impressive and augers well for further GW detections as well as the study of states near quantum ground.
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
In CERN Courier there is a
)
In CERN Courier there is a long article, which I understood only in part, on how to use particle accelerators, especially Storage Rings like LHC, to detect gravitational waves. I would welcome a comment frpm some scientist.
Tullio