2009/06/26 by Carlo Cafaro, Cafaro, Carlo, S. A. Ali +1
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Seismic Waves and Analysis
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0906.4844
openalex publication_date 2009/06/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present a theoretical estimate of the atmospheric Newtonian noise due to fluctuations of atmospheric mass densities generated by acoustic and turbulent phenomena and we determine the relevance of such noise in the laser-interferometric detection of gravitational waves. First, we consider the gravitational coupling of interferometer test-masses to fluctuations of atmospheric density due to the propagation of sound waves in a semispace occupied by an ideal fluid delimited by an infinitely rigid plane. We present an analytical expression of the spectrum of acceleration fluctuations of the test-masses of the interferometer in terms of the experimentally obtainable spectrum of pressure fluctuations. Second, we consider the gravitational coupling of interferometer test-masses to fluctuations of atmospheric density due to the propagation of sound waves generated in a turbulent Lighthill process. We present an analytical expression - in the Fourier space - of the spectrum of acceleration fluctuations of the test-masses of the interferometer. Finally, we discuss the relevance of these noise sources in the detection of gravitational waves by comparing the estimated spectral densities of Newtonian atmospheric noises considered here to the expected sensitivity curve of the VIRGO detector.