The Einstein telescope: observation of the universe with gravitational waves
On September 14 2015, a gravitational wave caused by the merger of two black holes of 36 and 29 solar masses, positioned at a distance of 410 Mega parsecs, reached our planet. The ripple in the space-time fabric traveled more than 1.3 billion years to reach the 4km long arms of the two LIGO gravitational wave observatories in the USA, where it caused a periodic displacement in one of the interferometer’s arm lengths of roughly 10-18 meter, one thousandth of the diameter of a proton. The interpretation is as follows: during the cataclismic event an energy equivalent to three solar masses or 1047 Joules was released in a matter of seconds and radiated out as gravitational waves (GW). At the peak of the emission the total radiated power exceeded that of all the stars in the visible universe. The discovery of gravitational waves is no doubt one of the main scientific breakthroughs of this century, and was rightfully awarded the Nobel physics prize in 2017, and with it a new form of astronomy was born. Since the discovery of gravitational waves, almost a century after they were predicted by Einstein, a world-wide network of gravitational wave detectors has to date observed 90 mergers of either two black holes, two neutron stars or a combination of a black hole and a neutron star. With these detections, insights have been gained in the fundamental nature of gravity, stellar dynamics and evolution, and the evolution of the universe itself.
The Einstein Telescope project will be a next generation instrument, pushing the boundaries of technology and precision. Its intrinsic sensitivity will be 10 times higher than current facilities, allowing us to probe the entire universe and detecting thousands of black hole mergers per day. It will allow to detect a large variety of astrophysical objects throughout the history of the universe. We will have, for the first time a direct observational probe into its dark ages, including the aftermath of the big bang itself.
While currently in the design phase, Einstein Telescope is recognized by the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures as a high priority infrastructure, with a construction cost of roughly 2 billion Euros. It should be built in 2026 and operational by 2035. Belgium, together with the Netherlands and Germany, is one of the two main candidate sites to host this facility.
Prof. Dr. Nick van Remortel
Nick van Remortel is professor in physics at the university of Antwerpen since 2008, where he also obtained his PhD in 2003. His research is focused on the experimental verification of the fundamental laws of nature. Since his Ph.D. which he conducted at the Large Electron Positron accelerator at CERN laboratory in Geneva he has spent many years abroad: he conducted experiments at the Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron in Hamburg, he was a research assistant at the university of Helsinki, and he spent many research stays at Fermilab in Chicago, before he finally returned back to CERN to hunt for the Higgs particle at the Large Hadron Collider. Since 2017, he is technical coordinator of the SoLid neutrino experiment at the BR2 reactor of the SCK in Mol.
Recently he is actively pursuing gravitational wave research and leads a research team of the Virgo gravitational wave detector in Pisa. In preparation for the future of gravitational wave physics, he is one of the driving forces behind the Einstein Telescope project, a new research infrastructure for gravitational wave research that could land in the border region of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
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