Saturday, 20 March 2010

black hole - What are the dimensions of LIGO Detector evacuated chambers?

The arms are $4,mathrm{km},times, 1.2,mathrm{m}$:



From the LIGO webpage:




The 1.2 m diameter beam tubes were created in 19-20 m-long segments, rolled into a tube with a continuous spiral weld. While a mathematically perfect cylinder will not collapse under pressure, any small imperfection in a real tube would allow it to buckle (a crushed vacuum tube would be catastrophic). To prevent collapse, LIGO's tubes are supported with stiffener rings that provide a significant layer of resistance to buckling under the extreme pressure of the atmosphere. The tubes must withstand these stresses for at least 20 years.


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