This year, the international Einstein Telescope (ET) Community gathers for its Symposium in Bologna, May 26 to 30, bringing together researchers from across Europe and the world. ET represents an ambitious new chapter in gravitational wave astronomy, aspiring to become a leading global observatory that will probe the universe’s most profound mysteries with unprecedented precision.
“University of Bologna, INFN, INGV and INAF are very pleased to host the ET Symposium. In Bologna, a rich scientific history meets cutting edge research, and ET is a great example of this. We are delighted that our researchers are involved in several areas of ET research, and this symposium will be an important opportunity to discuss the developments of this ambitious project, which aims to become the most advanced gravitational wave observatory in the world”, says Michele Moresco, Associate Professor at Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia ‘Augusto Righi’ of the University of Bologna on behalf of the Local Organising Team that includes also Tommaso Chiarusi (INFN-Bologna), Marco Olivieri (INGV-Bologna) and Andrea Rossi and Giulia Stratta (INAF-OAS).
“With recent advances in planning, design, and technological development, the Einstein Telescope project is making significant progress, bolstered by the energetic support of an engaged scientific community. Researchers and engineers are actively collaborating on feasibility studies and technological innovations, making the project’s goals increasingly tangible”, says Michele Punturo, spokesperson of the Einstein Telescope Scientific Collaboration and research director at the INFN Perugia division.
“The Einstein Telescope will be one of the most important research infrastructures to be built in Europe in the coming years. INFN, which leads the ET project at the international level, together with Nikhef and in collaboration with many other European research institutions, is looking forward to welcoming the broad international community to Bologna. The symposium will be a valuable opportunity for discussion on the current state of the project and, particularly, on the scientific and programmatic pros and cons of the distributed 2L geometry versus the single site triangular geometry, whose optical designs are being finalized by the ETO task force”, says Marco Pallavicini, INFN vice president.
The ET Symposium is being co-organised by the Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia ‘Augusto Righi’ of the University of Bologna, the Sezione di Bologna of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, the Bologna Section of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, and the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica – Observatory of Astrophysics and Space Science of Bologna.
Alongside the scientific program, a series of events and initiatives aimed at the general public will also take place in Bologna throughout the week, with a particular focus on Italy’s bid to host the Einstein Telescope.
(Einstein Telescope: a look at the deep universe)
From 26 May to 13 June – Palazzo d’Accursio (Manica Lunga), Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The exhibition starts from Einstein’s general relativity to the revolutionary discovery of gravitational waves, and then focuses on the Einstein Telescope (ET), a cutting-edge research infrastructure included in the ESFRI Roadmap. The exhibition explores ET’s scientific prospects and the technological and industrial challenges of the project, with a focus on the Italian candidature of the Sos Enattos site in Sardinia, where preparatory activities are already underway.
(The Universe Underground – Einstein Telescope in Sardinia)
Thursday 29 May at: 21:00 – Cinema Modernissimo, Piazza Re Enzo 3, Bologna
Speakers: Marica Branchesi (scientist), Massimo Carpinelli (scientist), Anna Tifu (musician), Angelo Adamo (scientist and artist)
Moderator: Patrizio Roversi
Free entrance. Reservations: (https://l.infn.it/et-modernissimo).
‘The Universe Underground – Einstein Telescope in Sardinia’ is a lecture-show that interweaves science, art and the territory to recount one of the most fascinating challenges of contemporary physics: the construction of the Einstein Telescope, Europe’s future underground observatory for gravitational waves, whose ideal site could rise in the heart of Sardinia, in the former mine of Sos Enattos, in Lula.
Under the ironic and passionate guidance of Patrizio Roversi, the audience will be taken on a journey between the depths of the Earth and those of space-time. With the contribution of scientist Marica Branchesi, one of the best-known faces in the astrophysics of gravitational waves, and physicist Massimo Carpinelli, one of the promoters of the project in Sardinia, they will explore the meaning of a research that has the ambition of observing the universe beyond light, listening to its most remote vibrations.
But it will not only be science. To narrate the link between research and landscape, between knowledge and identity, there will also be the notes of the violin by Anna Tifu, an internationally renowned Sardinian musician, and the live illustrations by Angelo Adamo, artist and scientist, who will give visual form to the imagery of a universe pulsating beneath our feet.
From 29 to 30 May – Hours of operation: Thursday 29, 12-21 – Friday 30, 10-19
Location: Piazza Galvani , Bologna
The ‘Big Bang Machine’, a mobile laboratory in the heart of Bologna, offers an immersive experience that takes the public on a virtual journey through space and time to the origins of the universe. On board a spacecraft, visitors will explore extreme phenomena such as black holes, stellar mergers and the first stages of the cosmos. The experience aims to show the link between cosmic signals and the study of the Earth, making fundamental physics topics accessible in an engaging and interactive way.
