The Einstein Telescope collaboration met in Hanover
26 September 2013
Group photo of the 5th E.T. symposium (picture: Fumiko Kawazoe, AEI Hanover)
The 5th Einstein Telescope (ET) symposium has been held on 22 and 22 October, 2013 in Hanover, hosted by the Albert Einstein Institute. The ET project aims at the realization of a 3rd generation Gravitational Wave (GW) observatory, a new European Research Infrastructure that will open the era of routine precision GW astronomy and astrophysics. The Hanover event was the second general meeting of the ET project, after the completion of the conceptual design study phase, supported by the European Commission in FP7-Capacities from 2008 to 2011. The vitality of the ET project showed in a large attendance: 78 participants from Europe and Japan.
The Japanese colleagues participated within the framework of ELiTES, an FP7-IRSES project, which supports the exchange of scientists between Europe and Japan, focused on the development of technologies for the future detectors KAGRA and ET. The 5th ET symposium had two main aspects:
- Presentation of the progress in the key technologies needed to complete the technical design of the infrastructure: underground facilities, Newtonian noise suppression, cryogenics and new cryo-cooling techniques, thermal noise and high reflectivity dielectric coatings for future optics
- Discussion of the strategy for the future of the ET project
Audience of the 5th E.T. symposium (picture: Fumiko Kawazoe, AEI Hanover)
The ET project keeps progressing thanks to the support of some European initiatives: the ELiTES and the ET R&D frameworks contribute to the R&D developments and to the realization of the technical design of the ET research infrastructures. ET R&D is an ASPERA-2 project, supported by a set of European countries, focused on the development of technologies for ET. A new cohesion and development tool has been presented at the meeting: GraWIToN. This is a 4 years FP7-ITN (Initial Training Network) that will begin in February 2014, addressed to the training of young PhD researchers in the field of GW research, of course including ET. Furthermore the potentialities of H2020 for the development of the ET project have been discussed thoroughly.
In conclusion, the 5th ET symposium has been a rewarding opportunity where the progress of the Einstein Telescope project was witnessed and where the next years for this challenging European adventure were prepared.