The LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors are back on
Improved instruments could spot more colliding black holes or even new phenomena
It’s open season in scientists’ hunt for gravitational waves.
A trio of detectors are back on the lookout for the ripples in spacetime. And the newly souped-up machines could make this the most productive search yet.
The two detectors of the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, LIGO, located in Hanford, Wash., and Livingston, La., and the Virgo detector, located near Pisa, Italy, officially started taking data again April 1, researchers report. Shut down for upgrades since August 2017, the detectors now boast improvements to their lasers, mirrors and other components. And for the first time, the three detectors will use a quantum technique known as squeezing that will reduce unwanted jitter in the sensitive instruments (SN: 3/16/19, p. 12).