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MiniGrail
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==Design== A spherical design has the benefit of being able to detect gravitational waves arriving from any direction, and it is sensitive to polarization.<ref name="prd76">{{cite journal | last1=Gottardi | first1=L. |date=November 2007 | title=Sensitivity of the spherical gravitational wave detector MiniGRAIL operating at 5K | journal=Physical Review D | volume=76 | issue=10 | pages=102005.1β102005.10 | doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.76.102005 | last2=De Waard | first2=A. | last3=Usenko | first3=O. | last4=Frossati | first4=G. | last5=Podt | first5=M. | last6=Flokstra | first6=J. | last7=Bassan | first7=M. | last8=Fafone | first8=V. | last9=Minenkov | first9=Y. | last10=Rocchi | first10=A. |bibcode = 2007PhRvD..76j2005G |arxiv = 0705.0122 | s2cid=119261963 | display-authors=8 }}</ref> When gravitation waves with frequencies around 3,000 Hz pass through the MiniGRAIL ball, it will vibrate with displacements on the order of 10<sup>β20</sup> m.<ref>{{cite web | first=Eppo | last=Bruins | title=Listen, two black holes are clashing! | date=2004-11-26 | publisher=innovations-report | url=http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/physics_astronomy/report-36884.html | accessdate=2009-09-16 }}</ref> For comparison, the cross-section of a single [[proton]] (the nucleus of a [[hydrogen]] [[atom]]), is 10<sup>β15</sup> m (1 fm).<ref>{{cite book | first=Kenneth William | last=Ford | date=2005 | title=The quantum world: quantum physics for everyone | page=[https://archive.org/details/quantumworldquan00kenn/page/11 11] | publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] | isbn=0-674-01832-X | url=https://archive.org/details/quantumworldquan00kenn/page/11 }}</ref> To improve sensitivity, the detector was intended to operate at a temperature of 20 mK.<ref name="cqg20" /> The original antenna for the MiniGRAIL detector was a 68 cm diameter sphere made of an alloy of copper with 6% aluminium. This sphere had a mass of 1,150 kg and resonated at a frequency of 3,250 Hz. It was isolated from vibration by seven 140 kg masses. The [[Bandwidth (signal processing)|bandwidth]] of the detector was expected to be Β±230 Hz.<ref name="Houwelingen02" /> During the casting of the sphere, a crack appeared that reduced the quality to unacceptable levels. It was replaced by a 68 cm sphere with a mass of 1,300 kg. This was manufactured by ItalBronze in Brazil. The larger mass lowered the resonant frequencies by about 200 Hz.<ref>{{cite journal | author=de Waard, A. | display-authors=etal | title=MiniGRAIL progress report 2004 | journal=Classical and Quantum Gravity | volume=22 | issue=10 | pages=S215βS219 | doi=10.1088/0264-9381/22/10/012 | date=2005 |bibcode = 2005CQGra..22S.215D | s2cid=35852172 | url=https://research.utwente.nl/en/publications/minigrail-progress-report-2004(e2ae42cb-9b18-4d10-84c4-de3c1c77d9dd).html | url-access=subscription}}</ref> The sphere is suspended from stainless steel cables to which springs and masses are attached to dampen vibrations. Cooling is accomplished using a [[dilution refrigerator]].<ref>{{cite journal | author=de Waard, A. |display-authors=etal | title=Cooling down MiniGRAIL to milli-Kelvin temperatures | journal=Classical and Quantum Gravity | volume=21 | issue=5 | pages=S465βS471 |date=March 2004 | doi=10.1088/0264-9381/21/5/012 |bibcode = 2004CQGra..21S.465D |s2cid=250811527 |url=https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/files/6702784/Waard004cooling1.pdf }}</ref> Tests at temperatures of 5 K showed that the detector had a peak strain sensitivity of {{nowrap|1.5 Γ 10<sup>β20</sup> Hz<sup>β{{frac|1|2}}</sup>}} at a frequency of 2942.9 Hz. Over a bandwidth of 30 Hz, the strain sensitivity was more than {{nowrap|5 Γ 10<sup>β20</sup> Hz<sup>β{{frac|1|2}}</sup>}}. This sensitivity is expected to improve by an order of magnitude when the instrument is operating at 50 mK.<ref name="prd76"/> A similar detector named "[[Mario Schenberg (Gravitational Wave Detector)|Mario Schenberg]]" is located in [[SΓ£o Paulo]]. The co-operation of the detectors strongly increase the chances of detection by looking at coincidences.<ref>{{cite journal | author=Frajuca, Carlos |display-authors=etal | title=Resonant transducers for spherical gravitational wave detectors |date=December 2005 | journal=Brazilian Journal of Physics | volume=35 | issue=4b | pages=1201β1203 | doi=10.1590/S0103-97332005000700050 |bibcode = 2005BrJPh..35.1201F |url=http://www.scielo.br/pdf/bjp/v35n4b/a50v354b.pdf| doi-access=free }}</ref>
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