Departmental Seminar

Quantum "limits" for interferometric detection of dark matter

Professor R Adhikari
Caltech

The LIGO detectors have started search for astrophysical gravitational wave signals and have now collected one month of data. In order to bring the detectors to their quantum limits, a menagerie of terrestrial noise sources must be overcome. In studying these interactions, two things have become clear: (1) science is hard, (2) there are ways to search for dark matter with the LIGO detectors, and (3) there are clever ways to evade the so-called 'quantum limits' for high precision force sensors: for measurements of gravitational waves, tests of nonlinear quantum mechanics, emergent gravity, etc.

Date & time

Wed 9 Dec 2015, 4–5pm

Location

PSYC G8

Audience

Staff, students and public welcome

Contact

(02)61254242