An international group of 30 experts will meet from February 18 to 20 at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa to assess the technical risks and costs associated with different options for constructing the Einstein Telescope (ET), the future third-generation gravitational wave detector that Italy is proposing to host near the Sos Enattos mining site in the Nuoro province. Currently, two configurations are being considered by experts: a triangular shape with 10-kilometer sides and an L-shaped design with two perpendicular arms, similar to existing interferometers.
The working group, appointed in recent weeks by the ET Organization (ETO), includes specialists in optics, seismic isolation, cryogenics, and vacuum technologies. Their goal is to provide an initial update on the detector’s configuration, ensuring flexibility for design uncertainties while maximizing scientific efficiency and optimizing infrastructure.
The Pisa workshop, organized in collaboration with INFN by Giovanni Losurdo, professor of particle physics at Scuola Normale and former spokesperson for the international Virgo Collaboration, along with Fiodor Sorrentino, senior researcher at INFN in Genoa and head of the working group, marks the first in a series of meetings with industry experts to refine the project.
Experts from Italian and international institutions will participate, including representatives from the sections of Rome, Naples, Genoa, Pisa, and National Laboratories of the South of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics, the Dutch National Institute for Subatomic Physics, Johns Hopkins University, Maastricht University, the University of Hamburg, AstroParticule et Cosmologie in Paris, the University of Trento, the University of Sannio, Sapienza University of Rome, the University of Naples, the Gran Sasso Science Institute, and the European Gravitational Observatory.
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