Effect of energy deposited by cosmic-ray particles on interferometric gravitational wave detectors

Understand

We investigated the noise of interferometric gravitational wave detectors due to heat energy deposited by cosmic-ray particles.

• We derived a general formula that describes the response of a mirror against a cosmic-ray passage.
• We found that there are differences in the comic-ray responses (the dependence of temperature and cosmic-ray track position) in cases of interferometric and resonant gravitational wave detectors.
• The power spectral density of vibrations caused by low-energy secondary muons is 100-times smaller than the goal sensitivity of future second-generation interferometer projects, such as LCGT and Advanced LIGO.