The ET project, supported by the European Commission for the next 3 years, is just started. We just received the first European funds, mainly devoted to additional man power (young scientists!) and travels, and we are setting-up all the organization. The ambitious aim of this project is the realization of the conceptual design of a 3rd generation GW. and the engagement of the full GW European scientific community is necessary to reach the target. To underline the importance of this project, we would like to point out that it is one of the very few projects in our field currently supported by EC in the FP7 and that it is already present in the current roadmaps of the main research institutions in Europe.
The ET design study project is organized in four technical working packages devoted to the major aspects of the design of a new GW observatory:
WP1: “Site Identification”
The main objectives are: Definition of the seismic requirements of an experimental site, selection between underground or surface site, definition of the requirements of the infrastructures, conceptual design of the main infrastructures and evaluation of their costs, site candidates listing.
WP2: “Suspension Requirements”
Main objectives: Definition of the requirements of the optics suspension in terms of seismic isolation, mechanical losses and thermal conduction. Conceptual design of the suspension.
WP3: “Topology Identification”
Main Objectives: Definition of the requirements in terms of quantum noise, identification of the detector topology, selection of the detector geometry.
WP4: “Astrophysics Issues”
Main Objectives: Definition of the detection capabilities requirements, Evaluation of the design driven Astrophysics potentialities of the detector, computational power requirements definition.
We invite you, in any case, to subscribe to the ET science team mailing list to be inserted in the ET community.
