A Study of a Long Baseline Gravitational Wave Antenna System - (aka 'Blue Book')
- Document #:
- LIGO-P830005-x0
- Document type:
- P - Publications
- Abstract:
- This document is the result of a study of the sensitivity, design and costs for a gravitational wave detection system based on interferometric long baseline antennae. The study was initiated by the MIT Gravitational Research Group who engaged the engineering firms of Arthur D. Little of Cambridge and Stone and Webster of Boston. Arthur D. Little studied the vacuum system design and costs while Stone and Webster made an evaluation of sites and studied various construction concepts and their costs. The spirit of the costing exercise was to fix on a design but at the same time to establish the cost scaling laws applicable to other designs.
In later phases of the study, the advice and criticism of the Caltech Gravitational Research Group were sought. Parts of this study have benefited from this interaction, however the tyranny of the schedule to complete this document have left substantial parts of it without their constructive review.
The principal conclusion of this study is that it is timely and feasible to construct a gravitational wave detection system based on at least two long baseline interferometric antennae. The development could open a new field of astrophysics—gravitational astronomy—with its own unique sources and insights into the universe and gravitation. The technical ability exists now to extend the search for gravitational radiation into new frequency bands and to gain a million fold increase in energy sensitivity over present detection systems.
Furthermore, there is substantial margin for further improvement in the sensitivity with technical advances as the fundamental limits for these systems are still many orders of magnitude below the projected sensitivities.
The positive conclusion of this study may have been anticipated. It could have been otherwise: the basic concept could have been flawed, the technology could have been inadequate, and the costs could have been beyond reasons. None of these appears to be the case.
The study is known colloquially as the Blue Book, in reference to the color of its cover.
- Files in Document:
-
- P830005-00.pdf (8.2 MB)
- Notes and Changes:
Migrated document information from the old DCC:
- Full document number: LIGO-P830005-00-M
- Author(s): Paul Linsay; Peter Saulson; Rai Weiss; Stan Whitcomb
- Document date: 1983-10-01
- Document received date: 2002-12-30
- Document entry date: 2002-12-30