Kireem ( Naperville North H.S.)
Mentor: Chris Stoughton
The Fermilab Holometer is an experiment designed to detect and measure holographic noise, a fundamental uncertainty in position as a result of the quantization of space time. This summer, I worked with Chris Stoughton and the Holometer team to simulate the data and results that will be seen by the experiment. However, the measurement of holographic noise is overwhelmed by various other sources of noise, most prominently the uncertainty in the measurement of light, known as shot noise. In order to greatly increase the ratio of the signal to external noises and therefore accurately measure holographic noise, I calculated the cross correlation of the shot noises produced by the interferometers in the experiment. This analysis tool used frequently in signal processing minimizes the level of uncorrelated noise, and by finding a pattern while calculating the cross correlation for varying numbers of Fourier transforms, I simulated the shot noise involved with the Holometer's long integration times. By incorporating the theoretical prediction for holographic noise, I build a simulation representing the data and the predicted levels of holographic noise and cross correlated shot noise. Moving forward, the Holometer team will use this produced simulation to test their observations.