Atmospheric Newtonian Noise May Constrain Third-Generation Gravitational-Wave Detectors

Advanced gravitational-wave detector designs are pushing towards lower frequencies, where certain types of noise, previously considered negligible, may come to dominate the detectors’ noise budgets. In particular, we revisit atmospheric Newtonian noise, caused by the fluctuating gravitational field as regions of high and low gas density move past the detector. We consider density perturbations both due to pressure waves (infrasound) and due to advected temperature fluctuations. In the absence of detailed site-specific models of topography, airflow, and building design, we present general scaling formulae that estimate the spectrum of atmospheric Newtonian noise, and show how it is affected by broad detector design choices. We confirm previous analyses that show that atmospheric Newtonian noise is not likely a strong contributor to advanced LIGO; however, it will be a dominant factor for third-generation detectors targeting low frequencies, with the low-frequency cutoff principally constrained by the depth of the detector underground.