Re: electromagnetic literacy

[Stephen Speicher <sjs@COMPBIO.CALTECH.EDU>]

On Sat, 13 Sep 2003, David Bowman wrote:

> Marc Kossover wrote:
>
> > In particular, I believe that
> > the work at LIGO and other large interferometers was trying to test
> > this hypothesis.
>
> I think they are mostly trying to detect gravitational waves (so far
> without success).  I don't know how they could measure the speed of
> those waves, though.

Several different ways to measure the propagation speed of
gravity waves is planned. One simple technique is to measure the
arrival time difference of a gravity wave detected at the Hanford
Observatory in Washington and the Livingston Observatory in
Louisiana. Given the known distance between the two detectors
(approx. 2000 miles) the propagation speed can be calculated.
Also, LIGO can interface with other equipment, including light
telescopes, so given a cosmological event, the arrival time of
the light can be compared to the arrival time of the gravity
wave.

--
Stephen
speicher@caltech.edu

Ignorance is just a placeholder for knowledge.

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