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arXiv · 1903.04615

The US Program in Ground-Based Gravitational Wave Science: Contribution from the LIGO Laboratory

David Reitze·Rich Abbott·Carl Adams·Rana Adhikari·Nancy Aggarwal·Shreya Anand·Alena Ananyeva·Stuart Anderson·Stephen Appert·Koji Arai·Melody Araya·Stuart Aston·Juan Barayoga·Barry Barish·David Barker·Lisa Barsotti·Jeffrey Bartlett·Joseph Betzwieser·GariLynn Billingsley·Sebastien Biscans·Sylvia Biscoveanu·Kent Blackburn·Carl Blair·Ryan Blair·Brian Bockelman·Rolf Bork·Alyssa Bramley·Aidan Brooks·Sharon Brunett·Aaron Buikema·Craig Cahillane·Thomas Callister·Tom Carruthers·Filiberto Clara·Paul Corban·Michael Coughlin·Peter Couvares·Matthew Cowart·Dennis Coyne·Nicholas Demos·Fred Donovan·Jenne Driggers·Sheila Dwyer·Anamaria Effler·Robert Eisenstein·Todd Etzel·Matthew Evans·Tom Evans·Jon Feicht·Alvaro Fernandez-Galiana·Peter Fritschel·Valery Frolov·Michael Fyffe·Bubba Gateley·Joe Giaime·Dwayne Giardina·Evan Goetz·Sarah Gossan·Slawomir Gras·Philippe Grassia·Corey Gray·Anchal Gupta·Eric Gustafson·Les Guthman·Evan Hall·Jonathan Hanks·Joe Hanson·Raine Hasskew·Carl-Johan Haster·Matthew Heintze·Edgar Hernandez·Kathy Holt·Yiwen Huang·Tien Huynh-Dinh·Max Isi·Jeff Jones·Brittany Kamai·Jonah Kanner·Marie Kasprzack·Erik Katsavounidis·William Katzman·Keita Kawabe·Peter King·Jeffrey Kissel·Veronica Kondrashov·William Korth·Dan Kozak·Rahul Kumar·Michael Landry·Benjamin Lane·Robert Lanza·Michael Laxen·Albert Lazzarini·Yannick Lecoeuche·Ken Libbrecht·Ka-Lok Lo·Lionel London·Marc Lormand·Myron MacInnis·Georgia Mansell
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Abstract

Recent gravitational-wave observations from the LIGO and Virgo observatories have brought a sense of great excitement to scientists and citizens the world over. Since September 2015,10 binary black hole coalescences and one binary neutron star coalescence have been observed. They have provided remarkable, revolutionary insight into the "gravitational Universe" and have greatly extended the field of multi-messenger astronomy. At present, Advanced LIGO can see binary black hole coalescences out to redshift 0.6 and binary neutron star coalescences to redshift 0.05. This probes only a very small fraction of the volume of the observable Universe. However, current technologies can be extended to construct "$3^\mathrm{rd}$ Generation" (3G) gravitational-wave observatories that would extend our reach to the very edge of the observable Universe. The event rates over such a large volume would be in the hundreds of thousands per year (i.e.tens per hour). Such 3G detectors would have a 10-fold improvement in strain sensitivity over the current generation of instruments, yielding signal-to-noise ratios of 1000 for events like those already seen. Several concepts are being studied for which engineering studies and reliable cost estimates will be developed in the next 5 years.

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David Reitze, Rich Abbott, Carl Adams, Rana Adhikari, Nancy Aggarwal, Shreya Anand, Alena Ananyeva, Stuart Anderson, Stephen Appert, Koji Arai, Melody Araya, Stuart Aston, Juan Barayoga, Barry Barish, David Barker, Lisa Barsotti, Jeffrey Bartlett, Joseph Betzwieser, GariLynn Billingsley, Sebastien Biscans, Sylvia Biscoveanu, Kent Blackburn, Carl Blair, Ryan Blair, Brian Bockelman, Rolf Bork, Alyssa Bramley, Aidan Brooks, Sharon Brunett, Aaron Buikema, Craig Cahillane, Thomas Callister, Tom Carruthers, Filiberto Clara, Paul Corban, Michael Coughlin, Peter Couvares, Matthew Cowart, Dennis Coyne, Nicholas Demos, Fred Donovan, Jenne Driggers, Sheila Dwyer, Anamaria Effler, Robert Eisenstein, Todd Etzel, Matthew Evans, Tom Evans, Jon Feicht, Alvaro Fernandez-Galiana, Peter Fritschel, Valery Frolov, Michael Fyffe, Bubba Gateley, Joe Giaime, Dwayne Giardina, Evan Goetz, Sarah Gossan, Slawomir Gras, Philippe Grassia, Corey Gray, Anchal Gupta, Eric Gustafson, Les Guthman, Evan Hall, Jonathan Hanks, Joe Hanson, Raine Hasskew, Carl-Johan Haster, Matthew Heintze, Edgar Hernandez, Kathy Holt, Yiwen Huang, Tien Huynh-Dinh, Max Isi, Jeff Jones, Brittany Kamai, Jonah Kanner, Marie Kasprzack, Erik Katsavounidis, William Katzman, Keita Kawabe, Peter King, Jeffrey Kissel, Veronica Kondrashov, William Korth, Dan Kozak, Rahul Kumar, Michael Landry, Benjamin Lane, Robert Lanza, Michael Laxen, Albert Lazzarini, Yannick Lecoeuche, Ken Libbrecht, Ka-Lok Lo, Lionel London, Marc Lormand, Myron MacInnis, Georgia Mansell. 2019-03-11. The US Program in Ground-Based Gravitational Wave Science: Contribution from the LIGO Laboratory. https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.04615

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