Stable operation of a 300-m laser interferometer with sufficient sensitivity to detect gravitational-wave events within our galaxy.
TAMA300, an interferometric gravitational-wave detector with 300-m baseline length, has been developed and operated with sufficient sensitivity to detect gravitational-wave events within our galaxy and sufficient stability for observations; the interferometer was operated for over 10 hours stably and continuously. With a strain-equivalent noise level of h approximately 5x10(-21)/sqrt[Hz], a signal-to-noise ratio of 30 is expected for gravitational waves generated by a coalescence of 1.4M-1.4M binary neutron stars at 10 kpc distance. We evaluated the stability of the detector sensitivity with a 2-week data-taking run, collecting 160 hours of data to be analyzed in the search for gravitational waves.
Ando
M
M
Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 Japan. ando@granite.phys.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Arai
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K
Takahashi
R
R
Heinzel
G
G
Kawamura
S
S
Tatsumi
D
D
Kanda
N
N
Tagoshi
H
H
Araya
A
A
Asada
H
H
Aso
Y
Y
Barton
M A
MA
Fujimoto
M K
MK
Fukushima
M
M
Futamase
T
T
Hayama
K
K
Horikoshi
G
G
Ishizuka
H
H
Kamikubota
N
N
Kawabe
K
K
Kawashima
N
N
Kobayashi
Y
Y
Kojima
Y
Y
Kondo
K
K
Kozai
Y
Y
Kuroda
K
K
Matsuda
N
N
Mio
N
N
Miura
K
K
Miyakawa
O
O
Miyama
S M
SM
Miyoki
S
S
Moriwaki
S
S
Musha
M
M
Nagano
S
S
Nakagawa
K
K
Nakamura
T
T
Nakao
K
K
Numata
K
K
Ogawa
Y
Y
Ohashi
M
M
Ohishi
N
N
Okutomi
S
S
Oohara
K
K
Otsuka
S
S
Saito
Y
Y
Sasaki
M
M
Sato
S
S
Sekiya
A
A
Shibata
M
M
Somiya
K
K
Suzuki
T
T
Takamori
A
A
Tanaka
T
T
Taniguchi
S
S
Telada
S
S
Tochikubo
K
K
Tomaru
T
T
Tsubono
K
K
Tsuda
N
N
Uchiyama
T
T
Ueda
A
A
Ueda
K
K
Waseda
K
K
Watanabe
Y
Y
Yakura
H
H
Yamamoto
K
K
Yamazaki
T
T
D001256:Astronomy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D006112:Gravitation; D007834:Lasers; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity