New Gravitational Waves Detector Configurations Were Discovered with the Help of Artificial Intelligence

by Maria Ișfan, PhD student

    LIGO is a gravitational waves detector which operates according to the Michelson laser interferometry principle. The detector configuration is typical. It involves two perpendicular laser beams, along with optical elements such as mirrors and beam splitters.

    Using only one laser beam, ten mirrors and beam splitters and two sensors, over one hundred million detector configurations can be obtained. With the help of the Urania artificial intelligence software, the researchers found fifty configurations which are better than the original one.

    Compared to LIGO, these potential new detectors show increased sensitivity, have lower noise levels and are able to better observe the post-coalescence signal emitted by two neutron stars.

    This new approach can be used for designing experiments in all areas of Physics, accelerating new scientific discoveries.

News source: https://journals.aps.org/prx/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevX.15.021012