The EGO Consortium was founded by CNRS (France) and INFN (Italy) in 2000, to ensure the long-term scientific exploitation of the VIRGO interferometric antenna for gravitational-wave detection, as well as to foster European collaboration in that scientific field. NIKHEF became a member of the Consortium starting in 2021. EGO is a key player in the commissioning of the VIRGO detector, its operation, maintenance and upgrades. It has created and runs a computing centre for data analysis; promotes R&D activities useful for the detection of gravitational waves; carries out other research of common interest to the members of the Virgo Collaboration in the field of gravitation; promotes co-operation in the field of experimental and theoretical gravitational-wave research in Europe.
EGO in collaboration with the Virgo Collaboration, the University of Pisa, the Scuola Normale, the INFN and INGV in Pisa, will offer access to advanced approaches for the:
- analysis of new sensor networks (robotic grids, fibre networks, seismological and atmospheric detectors) for the of suppression of noise and environmental monitoring of current and next-generation gravitational-wave detectors and interdisciplinary applications (seismology, atmospheric science, ecology);
- data-quality and detector-characterisation techniques for gravitational-wave detectors; including data-intelligence techniques (e.g. “glitch” characterisation, “tendency” follow-up, semi-automatic detection through correlation of cause and effect)
- development of a low-latency-alert framework for multi-messenger astronomy searches;
- use of machine and deep learning for gravitational-wave analysis, improving signal-to-noise ratio with innovative solutions for the common analysis of the data of GW detectors and high-energy astrophysics instruments.