Scientific Seminars

THE SEARCH FOR GRAVITATIONAL WAVES: OPENING A NEW WINDOW ON THE UNIVERSE

Giovanni Losurdo
INFN-Fi

2011-11-16    14:00    Brera - Cupola Fiore

A worldwide effort to detect gravitational waves is ongoing. The km-scale interferometric detectors, LIGO and Virgo, have been taking data in the last years. The data collected so far have allowed to put upper limits on several sources, but no detection has been claimed. The era of first generation of interferometric detectors is now over. Remarkable results have been achieved: the design sensitivities have been approached (and in some cases even exceeded) together with good robustness and reliability. A world wide network of detectors has been realized and agreements with optical and radio telescopes, X and gamma satellites, neutrino detectors have been signed to realize a multi-messenger analysis of the events. The scenario for the next years is very exciting. The projects to upgrade LIGO and Virgo to second generation interferometers, capable to increase the detection rate by a factor ~1000 have been funded and their construction has started. A new cryogenic and underground interferometer will be realized in Japan and the option to move one LIGO interferometer in India is being considered. In this seminar we will review the results of the research done so far and discuss the perspectives of the advanced detectors towards the final goal: opening a new window on the universe and start the gravitational wave astronomy.