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Gravitational Wave Observatories

Gravitational Wave Observatories


	A bird's eye view of GEO600

The Albert Einstein Institute plays a major role in the ongoing international effort to detect gravitational waves and to learn what these waves can teach us about astrophysics and general relativity. This page lists the ground-based gravitational wave detectors that are currently in operation around the world, as well as planned space-based detectors.

The GEO600 detector is a laser interferometric detector with 600m arm-length, located in Ruthe, Germany (near Hannover). It is operated by the Hannover branch of the Albert Einstein Institute. The GEO collaboration includes the University of Glasgow, Cardiff University, and the AEI, as well as the University of Birmingham and the University of the Balearics.

GEO600

	Cardiff University
	University of Birmingham
	University of Glasgow
	University of the Balearics


	© AEI/Mildemarketing/Exozet

For the space detector eLISA the Institute is part of an international project of ESA. Two of the ten European members of the eLISA Working Team are from the AEI. For LISA Pathfinder, the technology demonstration space mission, we are Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) of the LISA technology package (LTP).

	eLISA/NGO
	LISA Brownbag
	LISC - LISA International Science Community

The AEI collaborates closely with the American LIGO Project and is a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC). The LIGO project consists of three interferometric detectors, two with arm lengths of 4 kilometers and one with arm length of 2 kilometers. They are located in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana. Data from the GEO and LIGO detectors are analysed jointly within the LSC. Advanced LIGO is a proposal for an upgrade to the initial LIGO detectors. The GEO collaboration, including the AEI, will be a partner in this upgrade.

	LIGO
	LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC)

Advanced LIGO

Other Interferometric Detectors

Virgo is a 3-kilometer detector located near Pisa, Italy. The VIRGO funding agencies, namely the CNRS in France and INFN in Italy have established the EGO consortium to develop VIRGO and to promote European collaboration in gravitational wave research.

TAMA is a 300-meter detector located in Mitaka, Japan. The LCGT project is an advanced kilometre scale interferometric detector planned to be built in the Kamioka mines in Japan.

AIGO in Perth, Australia, is a 80 metre prototype for developing advanced interferometric techniques. ACIGA is an Australian consortium for developing a gravitational wave observatory in the southern hemisphere.

Virgo

	EGO
	TAMA

LCGT

AIGO

ACIGA

	CNRS
	INFN

The Resonant Detectors

Resonant bar detectors for gravitational waves were first constructed by Joseph Weber in the early 1960's. These are typically large metal cylinders with a weight of a few tons and cooled to very low temperatures. They are sensitive to gravitational waves in frequency bands of about 1Hz around the resonant frequencies of the bar which are typically near 1000Hz. Some recent resonant detectors such as GRAVITON and MiniGRAIL are spherical in shape instead of cylindrical.

The AEI collaborates with the Rome group to search for continuous gravitational wave signals in NAUTILUS data.

NAUTILUS (Rome, Italy)

	ALLEGRO (Louisiana State University)
	AURIGA (Padova, Italy)
	EXPLORER (Geneva, Switzerland)
	GRAVITON (São José dos Campos, Brazil)
	MiniGRAIL (Leiden, The Netherlands)
	NIOBE (Perth, Australia)

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