Gravitational Waves, LIGO, IndIGO - GS questions based on daily current affairs

ANSWER: 1, 3

Explanation:

• The LIGO-India project will be jointly coordinated and executed by three premier Indian lead institutions viz., the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar and the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore.
• Some of the Universities in the country will also participate in the project.
• The LIGO-India project will establish a state-of-the-art gravitational wave observatory on the Indian soil in collaboration with the LIGO Laboratory in the U.S. run by Caltech and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• The project will bring unprecedented opportunities for our scientists and engineers to dig deeper into the realm of gravitational wave and take global leadership in this new astronomical frontier.
• LIGO-India will also bring considerable opportunities in cutting edge technology for the Indian industry which will be engaged in the construction of eight kilometre long beam tube at ultra-high vacuum on a levelled terrain.

ANSWER: Squeezed vacuum

Explanation:
Researchers have developed a fresh technology to make the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory to become more sensitive to gravitational waves which are faint ripples in space time.

• MIT and Australian National University team of researchers report on improvements in what is called the squeezed vacuum source
• Injecting the new squeezed vacuum source into the LIGO detector could help to double sensitivity
• Scientists announced the first ever observation of g-waves earlier this year 100 years after Einstein predicted their existence in his general theory of relativity
• In case this is implemented, it will boost the sensitivity of gravitational detectors specifically at higher frequencies vital for understanding the composition of neutron stars

ANSWER: Team detecting gravitational waves

Explanation:

• The scientists and engineers of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, who detected gravitational waves and reported their discovery in February, have been awarded a $3 million Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
• The team also includes Indian scientists and researchers.
• The three founders of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) are Rainer Weiss, emeritus professor of physics at MIT; Kip Thorne, Caltech’s Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, emeritus; and Ronald Drever, emeritus professor of physics at Caltech.

ANSWER: Indian Initiative in Gravitational Wave Observations

Explanation:
Ever since the detection of gravitational waves since their prediction in 1916 by Albert Einstein, IndIGO has been in news. This Indian Initiative in Gravitational Wave Observation has been set up for providing India the ability to excel in gravitational wave astronomy. This is one of the largest scientific projects of independent India. The waves were detected using the facilities at the existing three LIGO detectors that are located in Livingston, Louisiana and Hanford, Washington of the USA. The prime project under IndIGO is the LIGO India or Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory India.