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Virgo: a laser interferometer to detect gravitational waves

Abstract

This paper presents a complete description of Virgo, the French-Italian gravitational wave detector. The detector, built at Cascina, near Pisa (Italy), is a very large Michelson interferometer, with 3 km-long arms. In this paper, following a presentation of the physics requirements, leading to the specifications for the construction of the detector, a detailed description of all its different elements is given. These include civil engineering infrastructures, a huge ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber (about 6000 cubic metres), all of the optical components, including high quality mirrors and their seismic isolating suspensions, all of the electronics required to control the interferometer and for signal detection. The expected performances of these different elements are given, leading to an overall sensitivity curve as a function of the incoming gravitational wave frequency. This description represents the detector as built and used in the first data-taking runs. Improvements in different parts have been and continue to be performed, leading to better sensitivities. These will be detailed in a forthcoming paper.
Authors:
Accadia, T; Beauville, F; [1]  Acernese, F; Avino, S; Barone, F; [2]  Alshourbagy, M; Barsotti, L; Basti, A; [3]  Amico, P; [4]  Antonucci, F; Astone, P; [5]  Aoudia, S; [6]  Arnaud, N; Arnault, C; Arun, K G; Barrand, G; [7]  Babusci, D; [8]  Ballardin, G; [9]  Barsuglia, M; [10]  Bauer, Th S, E-mail: carlo.bradaschia@pi.infn.it; [11]  others, and
  1. Laboratoire d'Annecy-le-Vieux de Physique des Particules (LAPP), Universite de Savoie, CNRS/IN2P3, F-74941 Annecy-Le-Vieux (France)
  2. INFN, Sezione di Napoli (Italy)
  3. INFN, Sezione di Pisa (Italy)
  4. INFN, Sezione di Perugia, I-06123 Perugia (Italy)
  5. INFN, Sezione di Roma, I-00185 Roma (Italy)
  6. Universite Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, F-06304 Nice (France)
  7. LAL, Universite Paris-Sud, IN2P3/CNRS, F-91898 Orsay (France)
  8. INFN, Laboratori nazionali di Frascati, I-00044 Frascati (Italy)
  9. European Gravitational Observatory (EGO), I-56021 Cascina (PI) (Italy)
  10. APC, AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Universite Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/Irfu, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cite, 10, rue Alice Domon et Leonie Duquet, 75205 Paris Cedex 13 (France)
  11. Nikhef, Science Park, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Publication Date:
Mar 15, 2012
Product Type:
Journal Article
Resource Relation:
Journal Name: Journal of Instrumentation; Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 03; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Subject:
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; CIVIL ENGINEERING; DETECTION; GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DETECTORS; LASER RADIATION; MICHELSON INTERFEROMETER; MIRRORS; PERFORMANCE; SENSITIVITY; SPECIFICATIONS; SUSPENSIONS
OSTI ID:
22092873
Country of Origin:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Other Identifying Numbers:
Journal ID: ISSN 1748-0221; TRN: GB12Q4078051277
Availability:
Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/7/03/P03012
Submitting Site:
INIS
Size:
page(s) P03012
Announcement Date:
May 09, 2013

Citation Formats

Accadia, T, Beauville, F, Acernese, F, Avino, S, Barone, F, Alshourbagy, M, Barsotti, L, Basti, A, Amico, P, Antonucci, F, Astone, P, Aoudia, S, Arnaud, N, Arnault, C, Arun, K G, Barrand, G, Babusci, D, Ballardin, G, Barsuglia, M, Bauer, Th S, E-mail: carlo.bradaschia@pi.infn.it, and others, and. Virgo: a laser interferometer to detect gravitational waves. United Kingdom: N. p., 2012. Web. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/7/03/P03012.
Accadia, T, Beauville, F, Acernese, F, Avino, S, Barone, F, Alshourbagy, M, Barsotti, L, Basti, A, Amico, P, Antonucci, F, Astone, P, Aoudia, S, Arnaud, N, Arnault, C, Arun, K G, Barrand, G, Babusci, D, Ballardin, G, Barsuglia, M, Bauer, Th S, E-mail: carlo.bradaschia@pi.infn.it, & others, and. Virgo: a laser interferometer to detect gravitational waves. United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/7/03/P03012
Accadia, T, Beauville, F, Acernese, F, Avino, S, Barone, F, Alshourbagy, M, Barsotti, L, Basti, A, Amico, P, Antonucci, F, Astone, P, Aoudia, S, Arnaud, N, Arnault, C, Arun, K G, Barrand, G, Babusci, D, Ballardin, G, Barsuglia, M, Bauer, Th S, E-mail: carlo.bradaschia@pi.infn.it, and others, and. 2012. "Virgo: a laser interferometer to detect gravitational waves." United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/7/03/P03012.
@misc{etde_22092873,
title = {Virgo: a laser interferometer to detect gravitational waves}
author = {Accadia, T, Beauville, F, Acernese, F, Avino, S, Barone, F, Alshourbagy, M, Barsotti, L, Basti, A, Amico, P, Antonucci, F, Astone, P, Aoudia, S, Arnaud, N, Arnault, C, Arun, K G, Barrand, G, Babusci, D, Ballardin, G, Barsuglia, M, Bauer, Th S, E-mail: carlo.bradaschia@pi.infn.it, and others, and}
abstractNote = {This paper presents a complete description of Virgo, the French-Italian gravitational wave detector. The detector, built at Cascina, near Pisa (Italy), is a very large Michelson interferometer, with 3 km-long arms. In this paper, following a presentation of the physics requirements, leading to the specifications for the construction of the detector, a detailed description of all its different elements is given. These include civil engineering infrastructures, a huge ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber (about 6000 cubic metres), all of the optical components, including high quality mirrors and their seismic isolating suspensions, all of the electronics required to control the interferometer and for signal detection. The expected performances of these different elements are given, leading to an overall sensitivity curve as a function of the incoming gravitational wave frequency. This description represents the detector as built and used in the first data-taking runs. Improvements in different parts have been and continue to be performed, leading to better sensitivities. These will be detailed in a forthcoming paper.}
doi = {10.1088/1748-0221/7/03/P03012}
journal = []
issue = {03}
volume = {7}
journal type = {AC}
place = {United Kingdom}
year = {2012}
month = {Mar}
}