Controlling advanced gravitational wave detector output mode cleaners acting on the laser frequency

Advanced gravitational wave interferometers are the second generation of high sensitivity detectors aiming at the direct observation of gravitational waves of astrophysical origin. To improve the sensitivity tenfold around the most sensitive frequency region at 100 Hz with respect to first generation instruments, several new techniques are being implemented. This paper focuses on the output mode cleaner (OMC), which is a resonant cavity, placed at the main output port of the interferometer. The OMC plays the role of a passive spatial and frequency filter for the beam carrying the gravitational wave signal. Such a cavity is crucial to reach the design sensitivity of advanced detectors. So far, the proper resonance condition of the laser beam was ensured by actively controlling the optical length of the OMC. We propose a new scheme: in order to keep the OMC at resonance, the laser frequency is controlled instead of the OMC length. This approach no longer requires actuators on the OMC, allowing an improvement of the OMC in terms of filtering capabilities, noise performances and simplicity. We show how to implement this technique in the control acquisition sequence, and the sensing and control strategy of advanced detectors.     

KAGRA引力波探测器中频率相关压缩态实验进展

随着技术的发展,下一代引力波探测器的激光功率将得到进一步提高。大光斑半径的应用也将使探测器的热噪声进一步降低,因此,量子噪声将成为在全频段限制引力波探测器灵敏度的首要因素。作为目前最有保障的一种降低量子噪声的技术,频率相关压缩态很可能将被应用于下一代所有引力波探测器中^[1]。频率相关压缩态可以通过将频率不相关压缩态与滤波腔相结合而产生。基于滤波腔具有的频率响应特性,这一技术的应用可以使低频波段的辐射压噪声有效降低,同时实现高频波段散粒噪声的降低,从而实现全探测频段灵敏度的提升。基于日本KAGRA引力波探测器的设计,我们预计将9dB压缩度的压缩态与周损失为8×10^-5的300m滤波腔相结合,可以使探测器灵敏度在全探测频段提高1倍。此实验于2015年开始,目前滤波腔的安装调试已经基本完成,得到的结果基本与实验前的模拟相符合。与频率不相关压缩态光学实验台的安装过程也已经过半,通过温度和控制回路的调制,二次谐波腔的转化率已经超过50%。     

Numerical simulation of time delay interferometry for TAIJI and new LISA

The success of LISA Pathfinder in demonstrating the LISA drag-free requirement paved the way for using space interferometers to detect low-frequency and middle-frequency gravitational waves(GWs). The TAIJI GW mission and the new LISA GW mission propose using an arm length of 3 Gm(1 Gm = 10~6 km) and an arm length of 2.5 Gm respectively. For a space laser-interferometric GW antenna,due to astrodynamical orbit variation, time delay interferometry(TDI) is needed to achieve nearly equivalent equal-arms for suppressing the laser frequency noise below the level of optical path noise, acceleration noise, etc in order to attain the requisite sensitivity. In this paper, we simulate TDI numerically for the TAIJI mission and the new LISA mission. To do this, we work out a set of 2200-day(6-year) optimized science orbits for each mission starting on 2028 March 22 using the CGC 2.7.1 ephemeris framework. Then we use the numerical method to calculate the residual optical path differences of the first-generation TDI configurations and the selected second-generation TDI configurations. The resulting optical path differences of the second-generation TDI configurations calculated for TAIJI, new LISA and eLISA are well below their respective requirements for laser frequency noise cancelation. However, for the first-generation TDI configurations, the original requirements need to be relaxed by 3 to 30 fold to be satisfied. For TAIJI and the new LISA, about one order of magnitude relaxation would be good and recommended; this could be borne on the laser stability requirement in view of recent progress in laser stability, or the GW detection sensitivities of the second-generation TDIs have to be used in the diagnosis of the observed data instead of the commonly used X, Y and Z TDIs.     

引力波理论和实验的新进展

引力波的存在是爱因斯坦在广义相对论理论中提出的一个重要预言．由于目前技术水平的限制,无法在实验室产生足以被探测到的引力波,因此宇宙中大量的大质量剧烈活动的天体成为科学家研究引力波的首选,从而诞生了引力波天文学．引力波探测将开启研究宇宙的新窗口,是继电磁辐射、宇宙线和中微子探测后探索宇宙奥秘的又一重要手段,对天文学研究有着极为重要的意义.新一代应用了高灵敏度的迈克耳逊干涉仪装置的长基线引力波探测仪正在建造中．该综述从引力波理论出发,阐述了目前研究较多的可探测引力波源,给出了目前观测上的最新进展,并展望了今后的发展前景．     

Limits on the detectability of the CMB B-mode polarization imposed by foregrounds

We investigate which practical constraints are imposed by foregrounds on the detection of the B-mode polarization generated by gravitational waves, in the case of experiments of the type currently being planned. As the B-mode signal is probably dominated by foregrounds at all frequencies, the detection of the cosmological component depends drastically on our ability to remove foregrounds. We provide an analytical expression with which to estimate the level of the residual polarization for Galactic foregrounds, according to the method employed for their subtraction. We interpret this result in terms of the lower limit of the tensor-to-scalar ratio r that allows us to disentangle the cosmological B-mode polarization from the foreground contribution. Polarized emission from extragalactic radio sources and gravitational lensing is also taken into account. As a first approach, we consider the ideal limit of an instrumental noise-free experiment: for full-sky coverage and a resolution of 1°, we obtain a limit of   r ∼ 10⁻⁴  . This value can be improved by high-resolution experiments and, in principle, there is no clear fundamental limit on the detectability of the polarization of gravitational waves. Our analysis is also applied to planned or hypothetical future polarization experiments, taking into account expected noise levels.     

Dark Matter Objects: Possible New Source of Gravitational Waves

Gravitational waves from mergers of black holes and neutron stars are now being detected by LIGO. Here we look at a new source of gravitational waves, i.e., a class of dark matter objects whose properties were earlier elaborated. We show that the frequency of gravitational waves and strains on the detectors from such objects (including their mergers) could be within the sensitivity range of LIGO. The gravitational waves from the possible mergers of these dark matter objects will be different from those produced by neutron star mergers in the sense that they will not be accompanied by electromagnetic radiation since dark matter does not couple with radiation.

     

Relativistic simulations of the phase-transition-induced collapse of neutron stars

An increase in the central density of a neutron star may trigger a phase transition from hadronic matter to deconfined quark matter in the core, causing it to collapse to a more compact hybrid star configuration. We present a study of this, building on previous work by Lin et al.. We follow them in considering a supersonic phase transition and using a simplified equation of state, but our calculations are general relativistic (using 2D simulations in the conformally flat approximation) as compared with their 3D Newtonian treatment. We also improved the treatment of the initial phase transformation, avoiding the introduction of artificial convection. As before, we find that the emitted gravitational wave spectrum is dominated by the fundamental quasi-radial and quadrupolar pulsation modes but the strain amplitudes are much smaller than suggested previously, which is disappointing for the detection prospects. However, we see significantly smaller damping and observe a non-linear mode resonance which substantially enhances the emission in some cases. We explain the damping mechanisms operating, giving a different view from the previous work. Finally, we discuss the detectability of the gravitational waves, showing that the signal-to-noise ratio for current or second generation interferometers could be high enough to detect such events in our Galaxy, although third generation detectors would be needed to observe them out to the Virgo cluster, which would be necessary for having a reasonable event rate.     

Gravitational radiation of slowly rotating neutron stars

The gravitational rotation of slowly rotating neutron stars with rough surfaces is examined. The source of the gravitational waves is assumed to be the energy transferred to the crust of the star during irregular changes in its angular rotation velocity. It is shown that individual pulsars whose angular velocity regularly undergoes glitches will radiate a periodic gravitational signal that can be distinguished from noise by the latest generation of detectors. Simultaneous recording of a gravitational signal and of a glitch in the angular velocity of a pulsar will ensure reliable detection of gravitational radiation. __________ Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 221–229 (May 2006).     

Statistical analyses for NANOGrav 5-year timing residuals

In pulsar timing, timing residuals are the differences between the observed times of arrival and predictions from the timing model. A comprehensive timing model will produce featureless residuals, which are presumably composed of dominating noise and weak physical effects excluded from the timing model(e.g. gravitational waves). In order to apply optimal statistical methods for detecting weak gravitational wave signals, we need to know the statistical properties of noise components in the residuals. In this paper we utilize a variety of non-parametric statistical tests to analyze the whiteness and Gaussianity of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves(NANOGrav) 5-year timing data, which are obtained from Arecibo Observatory and Green Bank Telescope from 2005 to2010. We find that most of the data are consistent with white noise; many data deviate from Gaussianity at different levels, nevertheless, removing outliers in some pulsars will mitigate the deviations.     

引力波、引力波源和引力波探测实验

引力波是爱因斯坦和其他物理学家提出的关于广义相对论的四大预言之一。除了PSR1 91 3 + 1 6引力辐射阻尼的观测提供了引力波存在的间接证据外 ,科学家至今仍没有在实验室中确证引力波的存在。由于人类目前的技术水平还不可能在实验室中产生强度可供探测的引力波 ,而宇宙中存在大量大质量、高速运动的天体 ,有可能产生较强的引力波 ,天体引力波源自然成为现阶段科学家研究引力波的首选。本文介绍广义相对论框架下预言的引力波性质 ,引力波探测的理论依据 ,共振型棒式天线和激光干涉仪两大类探测器的基本原理 ,引力波探测实验的现状和面临的困难 ,科学家采取的对策 ,以及爆发型和连续型两类天体引力波源。最后介绍了正在计划中的几个引力波探测空间实验     

Investigating ultra-long gravitational waves with measurements of pulsar rotational parameters

A method is suggested with which to explore the gravitational wave background (GWB) in the frequency range 10⁻¹²–10⁻⁸ Hz. This method is based on the precise measurements of pulsar rotational parameters: the influence of gravitational waves (GWs) in this frequency range will affect these parameters and therefore some conclusions about the energy density of the GWB can be made using analysis of the derivatives of pulsar rotational frequency. The calculated values of the second derivative from a number of pulsars limit the density of the GWB, Ω_gw, as follows:  Ω_gw < 2 × 10⁻⁶  . Also, the time series of the frequency ν of different pulsars in a pulsar array can be cross-correlated pairwise in the same manner as in anomalous residuals analysis, thus providing the possibility of GWB detection in the ultra-low-frequency range.     

Detection of gravitational waves from astrophysical sources

Modern ground-based gravitational-wave antennas designed to detect bursts of gravitational radiation from astrophysical catastrophes are described. Basic antenna characteristics, peculiarities of the noise background in antennas from various sources, and methods of their suppression are presented. The contribution from cosmic rays to the background is estimated. New programs of searching for low-frequency gravitational waves and potentialities for increasing the sensitivity of antennas of new types are briefly described.     

Gravitational Waves and Gravitational-wave Sourcestwo

The recent discovery of gravitational-wave burst GW150914 marks the coming of a new era of gravitational-wave astronomy, which provides a new window to study the physics of strong gravitational field, extremely massive stars, extremely high energy processes, and extremely early universe. In this article, we introduce the basic characters of gravitational waves in the Einstein's general relativity, their observational effects and main generation mechanisms, including the rotation of neutron stars, evolution of binary systems, and spontaneous generation in the inflation universe. Different sources produce the gravitational waves at quite different frequencies, which can be detected by different methods. In the lowest frequency range (f < 10^?15 Hz), the detection is mainly dependent of the observation of B-mode polarization of cosmic microwave background radiation. In the middle frequency range (10^?9 < f < 10^?6 Hz), the gravitational waves are detected by analyzing the timing residuals of millisecond pulsars. And in the high frequency range (10 ? 4 < f < 10⁴ Hz), they can be detected by the space-based and ground-based laser interferometers. In particular, we focus on the main features, detection methods, detection status, and the future prospects for several important sources, including the continuous sources (e.g., the spinning neutron stars, and stable binary systems), the burst sources (e.g., the supernovae, and the merge of binary system), and the stochastic backgrounds generated by the astrophysical and cosmological process. In addition, we forecast the potential breakthroughs in gravitational-wave astronomy in the near future, and the Chinese projects which might involve in these discoveries.     

Detecting Very-High-Frequency Relic Gravitational Waves by a Waveguide

The polarization vector (PV) of an electromagnetic wave (EW) will experience a rotation in a region of spacetime perturbed by gravitational waves (GWs). Based on this consideration, Cruise's group has built an annular waveguide to detect GWs. We give detailed calculations of the rotations of polarization vector of an EW caused by incident GWs from various directions and in various polarization states, and then analyze the accumulative effects on the polarization vector when the EW passes n cycles along the annular waveguide. We reexamine the feasibility and limitation of this method to detect GWs of high frequency around 100 MHz, in particular the relic gravitational waves (RGWs). By comparing the spectrum of RGWs in the accelerating universe with the detector sensitivity of the current waveguide, it is found that the amplitude of the RGWs is too low to be detected by the waveguide detectors currently operating. Possible ways of improvements on detection are suggested.     

Supernovae as a Powerful Source of Gravitational Radiation

We consider gravitational radiation in the nonspherical symmetrical evolution of supernovae. Unlike the gravitational radiation analysis of Imshennik & Popov performed using the formalism of Peters & Mathews, our analysis uses the (PN)5/2 approximation by Damour & Deruelle and Lincoln & Will. We show that the eccentricity is larger than 0.1 at the time when the Roche lobe is filled by the low-mass component, demonstrating that the conclusion of Imshennik and Popov that the final eccentricity is less than 0.1 is incorrect. If the supernova lies in the Large Magellanic Cloud (R = 50 kpc), we estimate the amplitude of gravitational waves to be h 8 × 10-20. The frequency of the emitted gravitational waves is about 1 kHz.     

On measuring the gravitational-wave background using Pulsar Timing Arrays

The long-term precise timing of Galactic millisecond pulsars holds great promise for measuring the long-period (months to years) astrophysical gravitational waves. Several gravitational-wave observational programs, called Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTA), are being pursued around the world.
Here, we develop a Bayesian algorithm for measuring the stochastic gravitational-wave background (GWB) from the PTA data. Our algorithm has several strengths: (i) it analyses the data without any loss of information; (ii) it trivially removes systematic errors of known functional form, including quadratic pulsar spin-down, annual modulations and jumps due to a change of equipment; (iii) it measures simultaneously both the amplitude and the slope of the GWB spectrum and (iv) it can deal with unevenly sampled data and coloured pulsar noise spectra. We sample the likelihood function using Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulations. We extensively test our approach on mock PTA data sets and find that the algorithm has significant benefits over currently proposed counterparts. We show the importance of characterizing all red noise components in pulsar timing noise by demonstrating that the presence of a red component would significantly hinder the detection of the GWB.
Lastly, we explore the dependence of the signal-to-noise ratio on the duration of the experiment, number of monitored pulsars and the magnitude of the pulsar timing noise. These parameter studies will help formulate observing strategies for the PTA experiments.     

tempo2: a new pulsar timing package – III. Gravitational wave simulation

Analysis of pulsar timing data sets may provide the first direct detection of gravitational waves. This paper, the third in a series describing the mathematical framework implemented into the tempo2 pulsar timing package, reports on using tempo2 to simulate the timing residuals induced by gravitational waves. The tempo2 simulations can be used to provide upper bounds on the amplitude of an isotropic, stochastic, gravitational wave background in our Galaxy and to determine the sensitivity of a given pulsar timing experiment to individual, supermassive, binary black hole systems.     

A Research on the Gravitational Wave Radiation of OJ 287

The research on quasar OJ 287 has lasted over 100 years. OJ 287 exhibits the phenomenon of periodic two-peak outbursts with the eruptive period of 12 years. Observations are rather well interpreted with the black hole binary model. In this model, the secondary black hole moves around the primary black hole and crashes against the accretion disk of the primary black hole, causing outbursts. This model reasonably explains the light curves of OJ 287 and correctly predicts the time of future outbursts. These indirectly justify the precessional effect of general relativity and the existence of gravitational waves. The massive black hole in the center of galaxy is an important kind of gravitational wave source. However, the number of the galaxies with precisely determined kinematical equations of inner components is quite small. The precise kinematic orbits of black holes are provided by the black hole binary model, so the radiation of gravitational waves can be studied on the basis of these kinematic orbits. Based on the existing work, the evolutionary relations of the radiation power and waveform of gravitational waves with time are first derived by using the post-Newtonian approximation method. According to the current progress of the detection equipment of gravitational waves, i.e., IPTA (International Pulsar Timing Array), the direct detection of gravitational waves from OJ 287 may be possible within the future decade.     

Gravitational waves from freely precessing neutron stars

In this paper we model the gravitational wave emission of a freely precessing neutron star. The aim is to estimate likely source strengths, as a guide for gravitational wave astronomers searching for such signals. We model the star as a partly elastic, partly fluid body with quadrupolar deformations of its moment of inertia tensor. The angular amplitude of the free precession is limited by the finite breaking strain of the star's crust. The effect of internal dissipation on the star is important, with the precession angle being rapidly damped in the case of a star with an oblate deformation. We then go on to study detailed scenarios where free precession is created and/or maintained by some astrophysical mechanism. We consider the effects of accretion torques, electromagnetic torques, glitches and stellar encounters. We find that the mechanisms considered are either too weak to lead to a signal detectable by an Advanced LIGO interferometer, or occur too infrequently to give a reasonable event rate. We therefore conclude that, using our stellar model at least, free precession is not a good candidate for detection by the forthcoming laser interferometers.     

铯原子喷泉频标的相对论频移

详细分析了铯原子喷泉频标的相对论频移机制,其中包括频标内部的二级多普勒频移和重力频移,以及与频标位置有关的重力领移。导出了频移的计算公式,估算了频移的大小并讨论了它们对铯原子喷泉频标准确度的影响。