Author: Emily Conover / Source: Science News
WASHINGTON — Gravitational wave detectors are going quantum.
A planned revamp of the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, LIGO, relies on finessing quantum techniques, LIGO scientists announced February 14.
That $35-million upgrade could let scientists catch a gravitational wave every day, on average. LIGO’s current tally of 11 gravitational wave events could be surpassed in a single week, LIGO researchers said in a news conference at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.Starting up in 2024, the revved up detector, known as Advanced LIGO Plus, will seek to wrangle a quantum rule, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, to improve the machine’s ability to detect ripples in spacetime. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that it’s impossible to precisely measure certain properties, such as the position and momentum of an object, at the same time.
In LIGO, this translates to a give-and-take in the light scientists monitor to detect gravitational waves. At each of the observatory’s two detectors, located in Livingston, La., and Hanford, Wash., laser light…
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