The IFAE leads an international project to pave the way for the Einstein Telescope
The Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE) coordinates the Horizon Europe INFRA-DEV ET-PP project aimed at constructing a European gravitational waves observatory. The project will run for 4 years with a total budget of €3.45M and comprises leading research centres from 11 countries.
The Einstein Telescope (ET) project will be the European Third-Generation (3G) Gravitational Wave (GW) Observatory, designed to observe the Universe by covering the whole spectrum observable from Earth with interferometric GW detectors. The ET will put Europe at the forefront of GW research, being the first and most advanced 3G GW observatory. Europe will take the lead in the new field of multi-messenger astronomy by combining information delivered by ET with optical, IR, UV, gamma, cosmic ray, and neutrino telescope observations. ET will impact the knowledge of fundamental physics, and the understanding of fundamental interactions governing the evolution of black holes and neutron stars.
The preparatory phase for the Einstein Telescope Gravitational Wave Observatory (ET-PP) is a Horizon Europe INFRA-DEV project supported by the European Commission which on 1 September 2022 began to address the fundamental prerequisites for the approval, construction and operation of the Einstein Telescope. The Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE) is the coordinating institution of this project that comprises leading research centres from 11 countries.
The Horizon Europe INFRA-DEV ET-PP project is instrumental for defining the main pillars of the Einstein Telescope project: defining its governance and financial models, establishing a strong projects office in charge of building a sustainable and eco-friendly infrastructure, increasing social awareness, and paving the path towards a timely decision on its location", says Mario Martinez, ICREA researcher at IFAE and coordinator of the ET-PP project. “The coordination of the ET-PP project places Spain in a leading position in the global governance of an experiment with the potential to provide, via the precise study of millions of gravitational waves events, stringent tests of Einstein’s General Relativity and revolutionise our understanding of the very early Universe and its evolution.
The ET-PP project will run for four years with a total budget of €3.45M. Its main objectives include the expansion of the ET consortium, the technical design and costing of the ET observatory, and the preparation of the ET site selection, among others.
ET-PP is a project supported by the European Commission Framework Programme Horizon Europe Coordination and Support action under grant agreement 101079696.
For more information please visit:
https://etpp.ifae.es/