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Alternative names | KAGRA ![]() |
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Part of | Kamioka Observatory ![]() |
Location(s) | Hida, Gifu Prefecture, Japan |
Coordinates | 36°24′43″N137°18′21″E / 36.4119°N 137.3058°E |
Organization | Institute for Cosmic Ray Research ![]() |
Altitude | 414 m (1,358 ft) |
Telescope style | gravitational-wave observatory observatory ![]() |
Length | 3,000 m (9,842 ft 6 in) |
Website | gwcenter |
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The Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector (KAGRA) is a large interferometer designed to detect gravitational waves predicted by the general theory of relativity. KAGRA is a Michelson interferometer that is isolated from external disturbances: its mirrors and instrumentation are suspended and its laser beam operates in a vacuum. The instrument's two arms are three kilometres long and located underground at the Kamioka Observatory which is near the Kamioka section of the city of Hida in Gifu Prefecture, Japan.
KAGRA is a project of the gravitational wave studies group at the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research (ICRR) of the University of Tokyo. [1] It became operational on 25 February 2020, when it began data collection. [2] [3] It is Asia's first gravitational wave observatory, the first in the world built underground, and the first whose detector uses cryogenic mirrors. It is expected to have an operational sensitivity equal to, or greater than, LIGO and Virgo. [1]
The Kamioka Observatory specializes in the detection of neutrinos, dark matter and gravitational waves, and has other important instruments, including Super Kamiokande, XMASS and NEWAGE. KAGRA is a laser interferometric gravitational wave detector. It is near the neutrino physics experiments.
The collaboration of LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA started its current observation run (O4) on 24 May 2023. [4] KAGRA ended its first observation run on 21 April 2020. [5] [6]
It was formerly known as the Large Scale Cryogenic Gravitational Wave Telescope (LCGT). The ICRR was established in 1976 for cosmic ray studies. The LCGT project was approved on 22 June 2010. In January 2012, it was given its new name, KAGRA, deriving the "KA" from its location at the Kamioka mine and "GRA" from gravity and gravitational radiation. [7] The word KAGRA is also a homophonic pun of Kagura (神楽), which is a ritual dance dedicated to Gods in Japanese Shinto shrines. The project is led by Nobelist Takaaki Kajita who had a major role in getting the project funded and constructed. [8] The project was estimated to cost about 200 million US dollars. [9]
Two prototype detectors were constructed to develop the technologies needed for KAGRA. The first, TAMA 300, was located in Mitaka, Tokyo and operated 1998-2008, demonstrating the feasibility of KAGRA. The second, CLIO, started operating in 2006 underground near the KAGRA site. It was used to develop cryogenic technologies for KAGRA.
The detector is housed in a pair of 3 km-long arm tunnels meeting at a 90° angle in the horizontal plane, located more than 200 m underground. [10] The excavation phase of tunnels was started in May 2012 and was completed on 31 March 2014.
The construction of KAGRA was completed 4 October 2019, with the construction taking nine years. However, further technical adjustments were needed before it could start observations. [11] The "baseline" planned cryogenic operation ("bKAGRA") was planned to follow in 2020. [12] [13]
After the initial adjustment operations, the first observation run started on 25 February 2020. [2] [3] Because of COVID-19, the observation run was ended 21 April 2020. [5] The sensitivity during this run was only 660 kpc (binary neutron star inspiral range). [14] This is less than 1% the sensitivity of LIGO during the same run, and around 10% of KAGRA's expected sensitivity for the run. [15] The sensitivity has reached 1 Mpc and the latest observations (O4) started on 25 May 2023. [16]
The 2024 Noto earthquake on 1 January 2024, whose epicenter was about 120 km from KAGRA, damaged its mirror suspension mechanism. As of 5 February 2024 [update] , the project is expecting to return to observation in January 2025. [17]
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory designed to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Two large observatories were built in the United States with the aim of detecting gravitational waves by laser interferometry. These observatories use mirrors spaced four kilometers apart which are capable of detecting a change of less than one ten-thousandth the charge diameter of a proton.
The Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics is a Max Planck Institute whose research is aimed at investigating Einstein's theory of relativity and beyond: Mathematics, quantum gravity, astrophysical relativity, and gravitational-wave astronomy. The institute was founded in 1995 and is located in the Potsdam Science Park in Golm, Potsdam and in Hannover where it closely collaborates with the Leibniz University Hannover. Both the Potsdam and the Hannover parts of the institute are organized in three research departments and host a number of independent research groups.
GEO600 is a gravitational wave detector located near Sarstedt, a town 20 km to the south of Hanover, Germany. It is designed and operated by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and the Leibniz Universität Hannover, along with University of Glasgow, University of Birmingham and Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, and is funded by the Max Planck Society and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). GEO600 is capable of detecting gravitational waves in the frequency range 50 Hz to 1.5 kHz, and is part of a worldwide network of gravitational wave detectors. This instrument, and its sister interferometric detectors, when operational, are some of the most sensitive gravitational wave detectors ever designed. They are designed to detect relative changes in distance of the order of 10−21, about the size of a single atom compared to the distance from the Sun to the Earth. Construction on the project began in 1995.
The General Coordinates Network (GCN), formerly known as the Gamma-ray burst Coordinates Network, is an open-source platform created by NASA to receive and transmit alerts about astronomical transient phenomena. This includes neutrino detections by observatories such as IceCube or Super-Kamiokande, gravitational wave events from the LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA interferometers, and gamma-ray bursts observed by Fermi, Swift or INTEGRAL. One of the main goals is to allow for follow-up observations of an event by other observatories, in hope to observe multi-messenger events.
The Kamioka Observatory, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo is a neutrino and gravitational waves laboratory located underground in the Mozumi mine of the Kamioka Mining and Smelting Co. near the Kamioka section of the city of Hida in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. A set of groundbreaking neutrino experiments have taken place at the observatory over the past two decades. All of the experiments have been very large and have contributed substantially to the advancement of particle physics, in particular to the study of neutrino astronomy and neutrino oscillation.
The Virgo interferometer is a large Michelson interferometer designed to detect the gravitational waves predicted by general relativity. It is located in Santo Stefano a Macerata, near the city of Pisa, Italy. The instrument's two arms are three kilometres long, housing its mirrors and instrumentation inside an ultra-high vacuum.
Gravitational waves are waves of the intensity of gravity that are generated by the accelerated masses of binary stars and other motions of gravitating masses, and propagate as waves outward from their source at the speed of light. They were first proposed by Oliver Heaviside in 1893 and then later by Henri Poincaré in 1905 as the gravitational equivalent of electromagnetic waves. Gravitational waves are sometimes called gravity waves, but gravity waves typically refer to displacement waves in fluids. In 1916 Albert Einstein demonstrated that gravitational waves result from his general theory of relativity as ripples in spacetime.
A gravitational-wave detector is any device designed to measure tiny distortions of spacetime called gravitational waves. Since the 1960s, various kinds of gravitational-wave detectors have been built and constantly improved. The present-day generation of laser interferometers has reached the necessary sensitivity to detect gravitational waves from astronomical sources, thus forming the primary tool of gravitational-wave astronomy.
Gravitational-wave astronomy is a subfield of astronomy concerned with the detection and study of gravitational waves emitted by astrophysical sources.
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) is a scientific collaboration of international physics institutes and research groups dedicated to the search for gravitational waves.
TAMA 300 is a gravitational wave detector located at the Mitaka campus of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. It is a project of the gravitational wave studies group at the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research (ICRR) of the University of Tokyo. The ICRR was established in 1976 for cosmic ray studies, and is currently developing the Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector (KAGRA).
The Institute for Cosmic Ray Research (ICRR) of the University of Tokyo was established in 1976 for the study of cosmic rays.
CLIO is the Cryogenic Laser Interferometer Observatory, a prototype detector for gravitational waves. It is testing cryogenic mirror technologies for the Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector (KAGRA). It is located in Japan.
Einstein Telescope (ET) or Einstein Observatory, is a proposed third-generation ground-based gravitational wave detector, currently under study by some institutions in the European Union. It will be able to test Einstein's general theory of relativity in strong field conditions and realize precision gravitational wave astronomy.
David Howard Reitze is an American laser physicist who is professor of physics at the University of Florida and served as the scientific spokesman of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) experiment in 2007-2011. In August 2011, he took a leave of absence from the University of Florida to be the Executive Director of LIGO, stationed at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California. He obtained his BA in 1983 from Northwestern University, his PhD in physics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990, and had positions at Bell Communications Research and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, before taking his faculty position at the University of Florida. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory is a proposed Japanese, space-based, gravitational wave observatory. The laser interferometric gravitational wave detector is so named because it is designed to be most sensitive in the frequency band between 0.1 and 10 Hz, filling in the gap between the sensitive bands of LIGO and LISA. Its precursor mission, B-DECIGO, is currently planned for launch in the 2030s, with DECIGO launching at some time afterward.
Takaaki Kajita is a Japanese physicist, known for neutrino experiments at the Kamioka Observatory – Kamiokande and its successor, Super-Kamiokande. In 2015, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Canadian physicist Arthur B. McDonald. On 1 October 2020, he became the president of the Science Council of Japan.
The first direct observation of gravitational waves was made on 14 September 2015 and was announced by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations on 11 February 2016. Previously, gravitational waves had been inferred only indirectly, via their effect on the timing of pulsars in binary star systems. The waveform, detected by both LIGO observatories, matched the predictions of general relativity for a gravitational wave emanating from the inward spiral and merger of a pair of black holes of around 36 and 29 solar masses and the subsequent "ringdown" of the single resulting black hole. The signal was named GW150914. It was also the first observation of a binary black hole merger, demonstrating both the existence of binary stellar-mass black hole systems and the fact that such mergers could occur within the current age of the universe.
Ground-based interferometric gravitational-wave search refers to methods and devices used to search and detect gravitational waves based on interferometers built on the ground. Most of current gravitational wave observations have been made using these techniques; the first one was made in 2015 by the two LIGO detectors. The current major detectors are the two LIGO in the United States, Virgo in Italy and KAGRA in Japan, which are all part of the second generation of detectors; future projects include LIGO-India as part of the second generation, and the Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer forming a third generation.