Einstein Telescope is one the most ambitious research projects with a worldwide scientific impact, a project at the base of a new era in astronomy that could expand our observation capability very close to the origin of the universe. Last June Italy officialised its candidature to build it, within a large European and international cooperation.
Why invest in these large infrastructures, what do we learn from them, what is the return for society and what should be the international involvement? Some answers clearly emerged from a conference organized in Canberra by the Italian Embassy in collaboration with the ANU, opened by the Ambassador Paolo Crudele who contextualized the Italian project within the international collaborations that Italy has in Australia in space and astrophysics sectors. The project was illustrated by the Scientific Attaché Marco Lazzarino and was then deepened with the help of six distinguished scientists from the ANU and Macquarie University.
There are many aspects of the universe that we ignore, because outside of the reach of our senses, so we need to expand them. It is hard to imagine two black holes spinning around each other at half the speed of light, not to mention to measure them. Instruments like Einstein telescope will allow this kind of observations. But will also foster the development of new technologies and new applications for everyday life. We cannot foresee the application of a technology until it is available; this happened with CCD, transistors, GPS and many other, it will happen also in the future.
Students working on projects like E.T. will develop skills that will be beneficial to the productive systems, such as precision engineering or big data science.
International collaboration is essential. The panel agreed that collaboration between Australia and Italy in this field is well structured; the Australian community will work together with Italian scientist at E.T. as it used to do with the Virgo project, since the technological expertise already present in Italy would ensure the success of the Einstein telescope project. At the same time, the panel highlighted the opportunity of the development of similar projects in the southern hemisphere.
Thanks to the speaker who animated this enlightening evening:
- Prof. Keith Nugent Deputy VC for Research and Innovation
- Prof. David McClelland Director of the ANU Centre for Gravitational Astrophysics, Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational wave Astronomy and Australian delegate in the Gravitational Wave International Committee and in advanced LIGO.
- Prof. Susan Scott Leader of the Theory and Data Analysis Group at the ANU Centre for Gravitational Astrophysics
- Prof Kirk McKenzie ANU Space Technology Division Leader of the ANU Centre for Gravitational Astrophysics
- Prof. Orsola De Marco Macquarie University and Chair of the Board of Astronomy Australia Limited
- Prof. Mark Casali Macquarie University and Director of Australian Astronomical Optics
The brochure of the Einstein Telescope project can be downloaded here.
