大型低温重力波望遠鏡計画 (LCGT)
低温技術を用いるレーザー干渉計
2000 年 35 巻 9 号 p. 440-447
詳細
2000 年 35 巻 9 号 p. 440-447
Gravitational wave was predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity. Nobody, however, accomplished to directly catch the wave. Scientific research projects to observe this wave are ongoing worldwide, such as TAMA, LIGO, VIRGO and GEO. TAMA, a 300m baseline laser interferometer at the Mitaka campus of the National Astronomical Observatory, is close to its end of construction. However, it may not be possible to detect by these interferometers in a limited observational time because of a low production rate of the coalescences of neutron star binaries. Therefore it is important to raise the sensitivity by more than two orders, which is realized by the project of a large-scale cryogenic gravitational wave telescope (LCGT), where cryogenic mirrors are adopted to reduce thermal noise and higher power lasers are introduced to reduce photon shot noise. This interferometer has been installed inside the Kamioka mine in Gifu Prefecture.
