Re:Why Doesn’t Gravity Happen Instantly?
by magicalhippo on Friday December 18, 2020 @04:06PM
(#25472025)
Sensitive enough that the randomness in the photon pressure on the 40kg mirrors is a source of noise they have to contend with[1]:
First, we observe that [quantum radiation pressure noise] contributes to the motion of the kilogram-scale mirrors of LIGO. This observation is also made in the Advanced Virgo GW detector. It is remarkable that quantum vacuum fluctuations can influence the motion of these macroscopic, human-scale objects, and that the effect is measured. This is quantum mechanics at its experimentally most macroscopic scale.
There's some great info in this[2] paper about the detector, sensitivity and performance of Advanced LIGO. And yeah it blows my mind every time I think about it.
First, we observe that [quantum radiation pressure noise] contributes to the motion of the kilogram-scale mirrors of LIGO. This observation is also made in the Advanced Virgo GW detector. It is remarkable that quantum vacuum fluctuations can influence the motion of these macroscopic, human-scale objects, and that the effect is measured. This is quantum mechanics at its experimentally most macroscopic scale.
There's some great info in this[2] paper about the detector, sensitivity and performance of Advanced LIGO. And yeah it blows my mind every time I think about it.
[1]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.01519
[2]: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.102.0...