Description of the infrastructure: 

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.

Offered services: 

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:

  1. 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);
  2. 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)
  3. development of a low-latency-alert framework for multi-messenger astronomy searches;
  4. 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.
Contact person(s): 
Francesca Spagnuolo