Large gravitational wave interferometric detectors, like Virgo and LIGO, demonstrated the capability to reach their design sensitivity, but to transform these machines into an effective observational ...instrument for gravitational wave astronomy a large improvement in sensitivity is required. Advanced detectors in the near future and third-generation observatories in more than one decade will open the possibility to perform gravitational wave astronomical observations from the Earth. An overview of the possible science reaches and the technological progress needed to realize a third-generation observatory are discussed in this paper. The status of the project Einstein Telescope (ET), a design study of a third-generation gravitational wave observatory, will be reported.
Status of Virgo Amico, P; Antonucci, F; Aoudia, S ...
Classical and Quantum Gravity,
06/2008, Volume:
25, Issue:
11
Journal Article, Conference Proceeding
Peer reviewed
Open access
The Virgo detector has now finished its first science run; a science mode duty cycle of more than 80% and a 4.5 Mpc horizon distance for binary neutron star inspiral sources were achieved. ...Commissioning breaks were organized during the run which permitted improvement of the sensitivity and the robustness of the interferometer against environmental perturbations like bad weather and earthquakes. The post-run commissioning phase has now started, with the goal of preparing the next upgrade step of the detector, Virgo+.
The status of VIRGO Amico, P; Al-Shourbagy, M; Avino, S ...
Classical and Quantum Gravity,
04/2006, Volume:
23, Issue:
8
Journal Article, Conference Proceeding
Peer reviewed
VIRGO interferometer commissioning started in September 2003. The complete lock of the interferometer was achieved in October 2004 via several steps. The main commissioning activity deals with ...improvements in the interferometer stability and sensitivity. The status of the advancement of VIRGO and the short-term plans are discussed here
An asymmetry in radii of curvature of the mirrors in the arms of an interferometric gravitational-wave detector can degrade the performance of such a detector. In addition, the non-perfect mirror ...surface figures can excite higher order modes if the radii of curvature are close to higher order mode degeneracy. In this paper, we present a novel technique for changing the radii of curvature of arm cavity end mirrors by Central Heating Radius of Curvature Correction. This system was installed in the Virgo experiment in Cascina and proved to be an efficient, non-invasive solution with a large dynamic range. We present how the interferometer was tuned using such a system in order to obtain the best duty-cycles and sensitivity achieved with Virgo to date.
Advanced Virgo is the project to upgrade the Virgo interferometric detector of gravitational waves, with the aim of increasing the number of observable galaxies (and thus the detection rate) by three ...orders of magnitude. The project is now in an advanced construction phase and the assembly and integration will be completed by the end of 2015. Advanced Virgo will be part of a network, alongside the two Advanced LIGO detectors in the US and GEO HF in Germany, with the goal of contributing to the early detection of gravitational waves and to opening a new window of observation on the universe. In this paper we describe the main features of the Advanced Virgo detector and outline the status of the construction.
The gravitational wave detector VIRGO aims at extending the detection band down to a few Hertz by isolating the mirrors of the interferometer from seismic noise. This result is achieved by hanging ...each mirror through an elastic suspension (Superattenuator), designed to filter mechanical vibrations in all the degrees of freedom. An experimental upper limit of the mirror residual seismic noise at a few Hertz is provided in this paper. This is lower than the thermal noise floor, expected to limit the antenna sensitivity in the low frequency range.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
In the framework of the expected association between gamma-ray bursts and gravitational waves, we present results of an analysis aimed to search for a burst of gravitational waves in coincidence with ...gamma-ray burst 050915a. This was a long duration gamma-ray burst detected by Swift during September 2005, when the Virgo gravitational wave detector was engaged in a commissioning run during which the best sensitivity attained in 2005 was exhibited. This offered the opportunity for Virgo's first search for a gravitational wave signal in coincidence with a gamma-ray burst. The result of our study is a set of strain amplitude upper-limits, based on the loudest event approach, for different but quite general types of burst signal waveforms. The best upper-limit strain amplitudes we obtain are h_{rss}=O(10^{-20})Hz^{-1/2} around 200-1500 Hz. These upper-limits allow us to evaluate the level up to which Virgo, when reaching nominal sensitivity, will be able to constrain the gravitational wave output associated with a long burst. Moreover, the analysis here presented plays the role of a prototype, crucial in defining a methodology for gamma-ray burst triggered searches with Virgo and opening the way for future joint analyses with LIGO.
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