Comparison of advanced gravitational-wave detectors

TL;DR

This paper compares advanced gravitational-wave detectors, specifically spherical resonant mass antennas and interferometers with RSE, evaluating their detection capabilities for neutron star and stellar core sources.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of two advanced gravitational-wave detector designs using measurable parameters, highlighting the superior sensitivity of RSE interferometers for distant sources.

Findings

RSE interferometers have higher signal-to-noise ratios than spherical detectors at the same frequency.

Interferometers can detect sources at distances where multiple events per year are expected.

Spherical detectors can sense sources beyond our galaxy, but with less sensitivity.

Abstract

We compare two advanced designs for gravitational-wave antennas in terms of their ability to detect two possible gravitational wave sources. Spherical, resonant mass antennas and interferometers incorporating resonant sideband extraction (RSE) were modeled using experimentally measurable parameters. The signal-to-noise ratio of each detector for a binary neutron star system and a rapidly rotating stellar core were calculated. For a range of plausible parameters we found that the advanced LIGO interferometer incorporating RSE gave higher signal-to-noise ratios than a spherical detector resonant at the same frequency for both sources. Spheres were found to be sensitive to these sources at distances beyond our galaxy. Interferometers were sensitive to these sources at far enough distances that several events per year would be expected.