Effect of energy deposited by cosmic-ray particles on interferometric gravitational wave detectors

Abstract

We investigated the noise of interferometric gravitational wave detectors due to heat energy deposited by cosmic-ray particles. We derived a general formula that describes the response of a mirror against a cosmic-ray passage. We found that there are differences in the comic-ray responses (the dependence of temperature and cosmic-ray track position) in cases of interferometric and resonant gravitational wave detectors. The power spectral density of vibrations caused by low-energy secondary muons is 100-times smaller than the goal sensitivity of future second-generation interferometer projects, such as LCGT and Advanced LIGO. The arrival frequency of high-energy cosmic-ray muons that generate enough large showers inside mirrors of LCGT and Advanced LIGO is one per a millennium. We also discuss the probability of exotic-particle detection with interferometers.PACS numbers: 04.80. Nn, 95.35.+d, 95.55.Vj, 95.85.Ry

Gravitational radiation detection with laser interferometry

“…Laboratory scale research throughout the last several decades of the 20th century led to the construction of a worldwide network of kilometer scale interferometers (Abramovici et al, 1992;Lück et al, 2006;Acernese et al, 2008;Tatsumi, 2008;Abbott et al, 2009c).…”

LIGO detector characterization in the second and third observing runs

“…Weather conditions at LHO during O3 prevented the correlation between low humidity and high blip glitch rate from being observed as suggested in [80,81]. Low energy cosmic rays striking the LIGO mirrors are responsible for a minute amount of noise in the interferometers [82,83]. High energy cosmic rays could cause blip glitches by strongly perturbing the detector's mirrors.…”

Non-collider searches for stable massive particles

“…Gravitational-wave detectors are extremely sensitive to tiny vibrations and were shown to be able to detect comic-ray showers [398]. They can thus also be used to search for SMPs that would induce vibrations, such as monopoles and nuclearites [399,400].…”

“…They can thus also be used to search for SMPs that would induce vibrations, such as monopoles and nuclearites [399,400]. In a study comparing the suitability of different kinds of gravitational-wave detectors for SMP detection, it was shown that resonant-bar detectors should be 30 − 300 times more sensitive than interferometers, due to a larger volume and a higher efficiency [398]. Searches performed at sea level using resonant-bar detectors quoted nuclearite flux limits at the level of 10 −12 cm −2 sr −1 s −1 for nuclearite masses M 10 11 GeV [401][402][403].…”