Advanced Virgo: a second-generation interferometric gravitational wave detector

• Published in: Classical and quantum gravity Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 24001 - 24052
• Main Authors: Agathos, M, Agatsuma, K, Allocca, A, Amarni, J, Balestri, G, Ballardin, G, Basti, A, Basti, F, Beker, M G, Bersanetti, D, Blom, M, Boer, M, Boschi, V, Bradaschia, C, Branchesi, M, Brisson, V, Bulten, H J, Buskulic, D, Buy, C, Cagnoli, G, Campeggi, C, Carbognani, F, Cavalier, F, Cesarini, E, Cleva, F, Cohadon, P-F, Colla, A, D'Antonio, S, Debreczeni, G, Degallaix, J, Pozzo, W Del, Lieto, A Di, Ducrot, M, Frasca, S, Frasconi, F, Garufi, F, Gaspard, M, Gatto, A, Gemme, G, Gennai, A, Ghosh, S, Gouaty, R, Groot, P, Harms, J, Heidmann, A, Heitmann, H, Hello, P, Hemming, G, Hennes, E, Hofman, D, Królak, A, Lorenzini, M, Loriette, V, Losurdo, G, Magazzù, C, Maksimovic, I, Malvezzi, V, Marchesoni, F, Marque, J, Masserot, A, Mezzani, F, Minenkov, Y, Moggi, A, Montani, M, Mours, B, Mul, F, Nelemans, G, Neri, I, Neri, M, Palomba, C, Paoletti, F, Paoli, A, Passuello, D, Perciballi, M, Petit, S, Pichot, M, Prijatelj, M, Prodi, G A, Punturo, M, Puppo, P, Rabeling, D S, Rapagnani, P, Ricci, F, Robinet, F, Rolland, L, Rosi ska, D, Saracco, E, Sentenac, D, Shah, S, Turconi, M, Vajente, G, van Beuzekom, M, van der Sluys, M V, Vedovato, G, Veitch, J, Vetrano, F, Viceré, A, Ward, R, Was, M, Wei, L-W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing 22.01.2015
• Subjects: Assembly; Construction; Detectors; Galaxies; General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology; gravitational wave detectors; Gravitational waves; Instrumentation and Detectors; Interferometry; laser interferometry; Physics; Quantum gravity; Universe; Germany
• ISSN: 0264-9381; 1361-6382
• DOI: 10.1088/0264-9381/32/2/024001

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.