The Faculty-Works-In-Progress Series is sponsored by the Dean of the College of Social Sciences and the Humanities  and the Northeastern Humanities Center. 

Faculty from all colleges have the opportunity to share their current research with colleagues and benefit from questions and discussions.
Lunch will be provided. In-person attendance only.

RSVP Required: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/10IemiaK0va28BrFApDCBoRnrtrFv0IXWeStybv7s2a8/edit

Abstract

At the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), astrophysicists must often ask whether a signal originated from ravens or gravitational waves produced by a black hole collision. This is because LIGO’s instrumentation detects length deformations on the scale of 1,000 smaller than the width of a proton. Further, the imprints gravitational waves leave on the output of LIGO’s instrumentation are mirrored and/or masked by noise and disturbances originating from the surrounding natural and built environments. As a result, LIGO instruments present an interesting case study revealing how the surrounding natural and built environments are entangled in experiment and output data. Applying mixed methods approaches to historical evidence, I explore how physicists define laboratory and environment at LIGO and reconfigure their instrumentation and improve instrument sensitivity through understanding the interplay between laboratory and environment. I conclude that given LIGO’s sensitivity LIGO’s laboratory has merged with its surrounding environment.

LOCATION

310 Renaissance Park

DATE AND TIME

Tuesday, October 8, 2024 from 12:00 - 1:00 PM