The gravitational physics program
Virgo
- Frame from a 3D simulation of gravitational waves produced by merging black holes, representing the largest astrophysical calculation ever performed on a NASA supercomputer. The honeycomb structures are the contours of the strong gravitational field near the black holes. Credit: C. Henze, NASA
The first generation of interferometric detectors, including upgrades to Virgo+ and enhanced LIGO, reached design sensitivity and took several years' worth of data. Nevertheless, the rate of detected events expected on the basis of the astrophysical population models is low. Now that the basic feasibility of large-scale, precision interferometry has been established, Virgo is in the process of being upgraded to Advanced Virgo. This new observatory is poised to make detections around 2015.
Advanced Virgo
This is a major upgrade, with the goal of increasing the sensitivity by about one order of magnitude with respect to Virgo in the whole detection band. It is the detector that, with Advanced LIGO, is expected to see many events every year. The Virgo and LIGO interferometers operate as a network and should provide the start of the era of gravitational wave astronomy.
Nikhef contributes to Advanced Virgo by providing cryogenic vacuum links in the interferometer arms. Also Nikhef will upgrade the linear alignment system to accommodate higher modulation frequencies. Nikhef will improve the external benches for the injection and detection optical tables, as well as for the optical tables at the end of the interferometer arms. In addition, Nikhef has responsibility for the internal injection and detection bench, and for the end-mirror of the input mode cleaner. Finally, Nikhef contributes to the development and commissioning of a new phase camera.
Einstein Telescope
The Einstein Telescope is the long-term future project of ground-based gravitational wave astronomy. It will record thousands of events per year in a very wide frequency band (1 Hz -10 kHz) and will have unprecedented sensitivity to the stochastic gravitational wave background from the Big Bang due to its excellent performance at intermediate frequencies. In May 2008, Einstein Telescope received 3 M€ from the European Commission within the FP7 program for a preliminary design study, which was recently concluded. This design study has defined the specifications for the required site and infrastructure, the necessary technologies and the total budget needed, and can be considered an important step towards the third generation of gravitational wave observatories. Nikhef has led the work package on site selection and infrastructure, besides making important contribution to the science case.
The sub groups
The gravitational physics group at nikhef is divided in the following sub groups:
Further information
This site contains a list of scientific publications, conference talks, educational activities and outreach and a private wiki for internal use. For further information conerning gravitational waves and interferometry we provide a list of useful links.
