The European Gravitational Observatory
 Virgo and the EGO consortium
 EGO-Virgo objectives
 EGO support to the experiment and to Virgo
laboratories
 VESF, R&D and fellowship programs
 EGO: local and European environment
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome 27
September 2010
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VIRGO
Virgo : a large international
experiment to detect GW
Italy: Firenze-Urbino, Genova, Napoli,
Padova-Trento, Perugia, Pisa, Roma I, Roma II
France: APC, Artemis, LAL, LAPP, LKB, LMA
Netherland : NIKHEF
Poland : POLGRAW, Hungary : RMKI
180 authors ; 250 EGO associates
A large infrastructure :
Virgo : a key element of a world
wide network: 2 LIGOs (USA), GEO (D)
•3km long arms; 60 ha of land; ~150000 m3 of buildings
•The largest high vacuum system in Europe : 7000 m3 - 10-7-10-10 bar
•High tech optics
•Several class 10 clean rooms ; 15000 m3 thermo stabilized to +- 0.2 °C
•600kW electrical power
•24h/24h data taking; 1 TB/day collected
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
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European Gravitational Observatory
 Consortium founded in December 2000
 Members :
INFN (50%) + CNRS (50%)
NIKHEF (associate)
 Mandate :
 “ensures the end of the construction of the antenna VIRGO, its
operation, maintenance and the upgrade of the antenna as well as its
exploitation; …
 promotes an open co-operation in R&D; …
 promotes the co-operation in the field of the experimental and
theoretical gravitational waves research in Europe;
 promotes contacts among scientists and engineers, the dissemination
of information and the provision of advanced training for young
researchers.”
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
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EGO organization
EGO Council
STAC
(INFN/CNRS/NIKHEF)
Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee
EGO Director
J. COLAS
Scientific Director/Virgo Spokesperson
F. FIDECARO
Virgo Collaboration
F. FIDECARO
 A direct supervision by Institutions:
Council President: B. D’Ettorre; Vice-President : S. Katsanevas
 An international Advisory Committee
STAC President : H. Lueck, members : R. Battiston, F. Bossi, G. Zavattini,…)
 A strong link between EGO and Virgo
The Virgo spokesperson is the EGO scientific director
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
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EGO-Virgo objectives (1)
2009 : 2nd Virgo Science Run
6 months data taking (July 2009 – January 2010)
Partially in coincidence with LIGO
Design sensitivity has been reached !
The interferometer proved to be very robust and stable
Significant limits on the Vela Pulsar
going to be published soon
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
5
EGO-Virgo objectives (2)
2010 : enlarge the volume of
observed universe
“Monolithic suspensions”
Increased “finesse”
Significant sensitivity improvement below ~400 Hz
 A few months run in coincidence
with LIGO (August – October) : VSR3
 Then “tuning” of the interferometer
to improve sensitivity
A key role by several italian groups
A responsive and efficient EGO support
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
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EGO-Virgo objectives (3)
2010-2015 prepare for the AdV era (2015 - …)


Increase by 1000 the volume
of observed universe
Several events per year expected
Enhanced LIGO/Virgo+
2010
Virgo/LIGO
2009
108 ly
Adv. LIGO/Adv. Virgo
2015
Credit: R.Powell, B.Berger
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
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The “Monolithic Suspension” example
 EGO funded R&D and fellowship program to develop the
technology (Glasgow, Firenze, Perugia, Roma I)
 Construction of MS coordinated by P. Rapagnani
funded by EGO,
a lot of work by many laboratories: Lyon, Firenze, Perugia, Roma I
integration at EGO site (a lot of support from EGO)
 Virgo decision to install MS based of expected performance
and scientific benefit (put forward to STAC and Council)
 Commissioning of MS coordinated by E. Calloni
Roma I, Pisa, LAPP, EGO, …
 Run strategy defined by Virgo (in consultation with LIGO)
 Data taking
Virgo scientists (including EGO ones), strong EGO support : operators, data
transfers, maintenance, on-call …)
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
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The AdV example
 A large project (22 M€); a stronger organization put in place:
– Project defined by Virgo under supervision by the EGO Council
– Project Leader appointed by the Council for the duration of the construction
supported by a management team
– A WBS defined and an MoU signed
 Investment cost through
the EGO budget
 EGO responsibilities:
– Safety, Integration,
management, QC
– Infrastructure, vacuum,
injection
STAC
Project
Office
EGO
Council
PSB
EGO director
VSC
SD/Spkprsn
Spkprsn/SD
Adv PL
IPRB
Reviews
Group/Lab
A
Group/Lab
B
Group/Lab
C
Subsystem
manager 1
Task A1
Task B1
Task C1
Subsystem
manager 2
Task A2
Task B2
Task C2
Subsystem
manager 3
Task A3
Task B3
Task C3
AdV TM
CCB
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
Virgo Collaboration
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Support to the Virgo experiment
Interferometer operation
Site & Infrastructure
Computing
Administration/Reception
F. CARBOGNANI
P. POPOLIZIO
A. Bozzi
F. TOSI
21 pers.
16 pers.
6 pers.
6 pers.
Technical Coordination for upgrades
H. HEITMANN
1 pers.
50 persons, 24% are non Italians
~30% are applied physicists or high level engineers
 Virgo, a large infrastructure to run and maintain :
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
An efficient operator team
1 TB/day of data to collect, store and send out to off-line centers (CNAF and CC-IN2P3)
On-call service : 1 call/day (night and WE) to fix various problems
(security, air-conditioning, electricity, laser/optics, electronics, computing/network, vacuum …)
Specific high level expertise:
dedicated vacuum group
highly competent optics group
An endless fight : reducing environmental noise
A large system to maintain
~1000 orders/year
The right place to integrate components coming from scattered laboratories
 EGO, a very responsive structure
–
J. Colas
i.e. new clean rooms, support for personnel i.e. MS, orders by Virgo people external to EGO
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
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Computing
 Computing at EGO:
– data acquisition, temporary storage, on-line processing (DQ, trigger)
– network, users support
– Audio and video conferencing
 A crucial contribution by CC-Lyon, CNAF-Bologna
long term storage, off-line data analysis
– CNAF : Disk storage : 370 TB
– CNAF: Tape storage : 165 TB
– CNAF CPU: 300 kSI2k.days requested for 2010
 Next JECC meeting on 21/10
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
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The Virgo Ego Scientific Forum
 a Forum where participating astrophysicists and theorists
contribute to the development of scientific knowledge
around Virgo.
 a Forum to enlarge the research community around the
present Virgo collaboration.
 Activities :
– VESF schools
– Fellowship program
 Current chair person : V. Ferrari
 ISAPP school (27/9 – 5/10)
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
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Fellows and R&D
 Fellowship program
– VESF, Data analysis, Commissioning, R&D, AdV
– More than 25 fellows currently supported
 R&D program to prepare
for AdV
– Program will be strongly reduced to
give priority to AdV construction
Project
Laboratory
Responsible
High power optical components for
Advanced Virgo
EGO/Pisa/Napoli
B. Canuel
CALVA - A test facility for Advanced
Virgo
LAL
F. Cavalier
Marionette reference mass for GW
detectors
Roma I
F. Ricci
Pisa/Roma II
F. Frasconi
Coating development
LMA
N. Morgado
AdV mirrors flatness and cleaning
LMA
R. Flaminio
Thermal compensation system studies
Roma II
V. Fafone
TCS: Investigation on the Directional
Radiative Cooling
Roma II
V. Fafone
Nice
A. Brillet
Interferometer Sensitivity at low
frequency
Fiber Laser for Advanced Virgo
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
13
EGO and local environment
 Visits of the Vice-President of the Tuscany Region
– Fellowships
 Protection of the site from industrial disturbances
– windmill farms,…
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
14
EGO/Virgo Outreach (C. Bradaschia/E. Cuoco)
 As usual since several years, every Saturday (Tuesday)
morning 20-50 visitors
 “Open Doors at EGO”
 “Notte dei ricercatori”
Participation a “Astri e Particelle”
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
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European projects (M. Punturo)
 EGO has the infrastructure to coordinate EU projects
 ET: design of a 3rd generation detector
– Participants :
EGO, Birmingham, Cardiff, CNRS,
Glasgow, INFN, MPI, Nikhef
– A large science team
– EGO provides the administrative support
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
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Summary
 An efficient, responsive and light structure to support Virgo
and promote European collaboration under supervision by
national institutions
 EGO existence relies on Virgo/AdV success
 The future of GW in Europe depends upon a stronger
collaboration between EU countries. EGO may prefigure the
required infrastructure.
J. Colas
Commission II meeting - Rome
27 September 2010
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