282 I O Grovitotionol Radiation

where ama,is the effective cross-section of the antenna a t resonance, given by

setting ru = ru, in (10.7.12), (10.7.13), (10.7.14), or (10.7.15). If @(m)is roughly
constant over the frequency range wo - l- to o, + r, then it can be taken out of
the integral, and we have

For a source that radiates for a time much longer than the antenna relaxation
time l/r,a quasi-steady state will be reached in which the mean energy E in the
resonant mode is such that the loss rate ET just balances the absorbed power P:

I n this case, a measurement of the mean excitation energy of the resonant mode
serves to measure, or a t least to set an upper limit on, the power flux a t the re-
sonant frequency. For instance, the earth has a fundamental spheroidal oscillation
mode14 with a period 2n/w of 54 min and a decay rate l- of order 5 x
sec-l, in which the mass density perturbation is of the form p , ( r ) YZm(B,q). The
gravitational decay rate l-,,, of this mode will be roughly of order G M e R e Z ~ 4 / ~ s
[compare Eq. (10.5.18)],or about sec- SO the branching ratio q is of order
The cross-section (10.7.15) a t resonance is here 7.5 x 10271 cm2, or
roughly lo7 to 10' cm2. From seismic measurements of the mean strain in the
earth7s crust during quiet periods, Forward et al.'' in 1961 set an upper limit
on @(oo) of roughly 20 watts/cm2-Hz.I t is hoped that a much better upper limit
on @ can be set by placing a gravimeter on the moon,I6 which is very much quieter
seismically than the earth.
Yor a "burst" source that radiates for a time t less than the antenna relaxation
time 1/r,the total energy picked up by the antenna will be

Thus the energy per unit area in tlie burst reaching the antenna within the beam
width may be determined as

However, if the source radiates for a time T < l/r,its bandwidth must be greater
than llt, so the total energy per unit area in the burst must be larger than b by a
factor greater than (tr)- l .
The only positive indication so far of the presence of gravitational radiation
in the universe comes from the experiments of Weber,' which use as antennas the
 7 Detection of Gravitational Radiation 283

aluminum cylinders described in Section 10.5. These antennas have the frequency
and "branching ratio"

[sce Eq. (10.5.20)l so by setting o = wo and averaging over helicities in Eq.

(10.7.13), we find a cross-section a t resonance

If the smallest energy increment AE that can be distinguished from thermal

fluctuations is k T , or 4 x 10-l4 ergs a t room temperature, Ohen according to
(10.7.19), a burst of gravitational radiation will be detectable if the energy d per
unit area within the beam width satisfies the condition

(It is actually possible to do a little better than this by careful data processing.)
The mere observation of a number of pulses in a single cylinder would leave open
the possibility that these pulses were due t o nonthermal noise, such as seismic
disturbances, electric storms, or cosmic rays, so Weber looked for coincident
pulses in aluminum cylinders 1000 km apart, a t College Park in Maryland and the
Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. I n 1969 Weber reported over 100 coin-
cident pulses, occurring a t a rate that indicates a mean gravitational radiation
flux (within the bandwidth r N 0.1 Hz) of about 0.1 erg cm-' sec-'.l7
Shortly thereafter,18 Weber found that the rate of coincident pulses was
correlated with sidereal time, in a manner consistent with the expected sin4 0
antenna pattern if the gravitational radiation is coming from the center of our
galaxy. (See Figure 10.1.) The galactic center is about 2.5 x 10'' cm from the
'
earth, so an observed flux of 0.1 erg cm- sec- would indicate a n energy produc-
tion of about 8 x ergslsec, or 0.013 M,cZ/year. This would not in itself be so
remarkable, but since Weber's antennas are not tuned to any particular frequency,
an energy production of 0.01 M,c2 in a bandwidth of 0.1 Hz a t 1660 Hz pre-
sumably represents a total energy production lo3 to lo5 times larger, or 10 to lo3
M , ~ ' / ~ e a r .At this rate, the whole mass of the galaxy would be used up in lo8
to 10'' years! If Weber is really observing gravitational radiation from the galactic
center, then either he accidently picked the precise frequency a t which most of
this radiation is emitted, or else he has discovered an incredibly powerful nen-
source of energy.
Weber has also looked for scalar radiation, using a disk with a monopole
mode of oscillation having the same frequency, 1660 Hz, as the cylinders. The
coincidence rate is observed to be much less than for the pair of cylinders; the
apparent correlation of coincidences with sidereal time agrees with a pure tensor
theory. l
Plans are now in train t o repeat Weber's experiments with much greater
sensitivity. One important improvement that is being planned a t Stanfordzo is