The European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) continues to grow: today the Belgian research foundations FWO and FNRS joined the EGO consortium, the institution that hosts the Virgo gravitational wave detector in the countryside of Cascina, near Pisa, Italy. The membership of the two Belgian foundations brings to five the number of European research institutions funding EGO, and to four the number of member countries.
“Ten years after the first gravitational wave detection, the gravitational wave research community has grown extraordinarily in Europe" - said EGO director Massimo Carpinelli - “and the scientific achievements over these years confirm that it is one of the most promising and exciting fields of research in fundamental physics today. Two leading Belgian Research Foundations joining EGO testifies how the European Gravitational Observatory and the Virgo experiment continue to play a central role for the future of this field in Europe. A warm welcome to the two new members of the EGO Consortium!”
“We are glad to welcome two prestigious Belgian Research Foundations as new members of the EGO consortium” – said Marco Pallavicini, President of the EGO Council and Vice-president of INFN - “Their membership naturally lends additional support to the long scientific future of the Virgo experiment. Looking further ahead, this shows us how cooperation can prevail over competition even in the major scientific and technological undertakings that await the European gravitational wave community in the coming decades, such as the Einstein Telescope.”
FWO, The Research Foundation – Flanders is a Belgian public research council, based in Brussels, which aims to sponsor ground-breaking research and innovation with a specific focus on the Flemish community. The Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.–FNRS) aims to develop fundamental scientific research by both supporting individual researchers, and also by financing research programmes conducted in the laboratories and facilities located in the universities of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
EGO was founded in 2000 by INFN (the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics) and CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), in 2009 NWO-I (Foundation for Dutch Scientific Research Institutes) joined them as observer and then in 2022 as associate member of the consortium. The two Belgian institutions will thus bring the number of members of the EGO Consortium to five.
In 2023 several other institutions have joined EGO as observers: the Spanish Institute for High Energy Physics (IFAE), The Polish Consortium of the Virgo Project composed of several research and academic Polish institutions and a number of Belgian Universities: Université catholique de Louvain, Université de Liège, Université libre de Bruxelles, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Universiteit Antwerp, Universiteit Gent, Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
“With the FWO joining the EGO Consortium, the Flemish government is expressing the importance it sees in the development of gravitational wave physics” - declared Hans Plets, Project Manager of FWO - “The experience gained with the Virgo detector will pave the way towards the successful deployment of the Einstein Telescope, thus allowing Europe to take global leadership in gravitational wave detection.”
“The Board of Trustees of the FNRS decided unanimously to join EGO in December 2024 because it recognises the importance of research in gravitational waves and the key role the Virgo experience will play in setting the foundations for the groundbreaking work to come of the Einstein Telescope” - said Joël Groeneveld, Head of International and Institutional Affairs of FNRS - “With this decision, FNRS also shows its support for the significant contribution of researchers from the Wallonia-Brussels in the field of gravitational waves that will continue in the decades to come.”
The council session was attended by EGO director Massimo Carpinelli, Marco Pallavicini, Vice-president of INFN and President of the EGO Council, Nicolas Leroy, Deputy Scientific Director of IN2P3-CNRS, Jorgen D'Hondt, Nikhef Director and Vice-President of the EGO Council, for NWO-I, Joël Groeneveld, Head of International and Institutional Affairs of FNRS and Gianluca Gemme, Virgo spokesperson.
EGO, the European Gravitational Observatory, located in Cascina, in the countryside near Pisa, In Italy is the institutional home of the Virgo experiment, the only gravitational wave detector in Europe and one of four in the world. Gravitational Waves are very faint cosmic signals that allow us to observe extraordinary phenomena in the deep Universe, such as the merging of black holes or stars. More than 900 scientists from 20 countries contribute to the Virgo Scientific Collaboration.
Furthermore EGO promotes cooperation in the field of experimental and theoretical gravitational waves research in Europe and the dissemination of information and advanced training for young researchers. EGO is also engaged in communication and engagement activities with the general public, including the participation of non-scientists in research (citizen science), and the dialogue between art and science.
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