International Summer Research Program in Gravitational-Wave Physics:
Research Experiences for Undergraduates around the world



NIKHEF, Amsterdam
  • Analyzing neutron stars with Advanced Gravitational Wave Detectors:
    The second generation of GW detectors, designed to detect signals from colliding neutron stars and black holes, will come online in 2015, with an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity over the initial LIGO and Virgo detectors. This improved sensitivity will increase from seconds to minutes the length of signal that will be observable from binary neutron star collisions, revealing in great detail the properties of the neutron stars and the evolution of the space-time around them. These longer signals pose several challenges to existing analysis efforts and will require improved computational speed and robustness against changes in the noise detector background. We are looking for a keen student with some programming experience to help research the possibilities for improved parameter estimation of BNS systems for advanced detectors.
    Mentors: Chris van den Broeck and John Veitch
    Related Project 2013: "Improvements in Computational Efficiency for CBC Analysis of Advanced Gravitational Wave Detector Data"
  • Phase camera project for Advanced Virgo:
    We have been put in charge of the phase camera project for Advanced Virgo. The purpose of this device is to image the spatial phase and amplitude distribution of an optical beam over a wide range of frequencies and to monitor the evolution of these distributions over time. We have built up a clean room and a laser lab at Nikhef in preparation for this project. The student will work with us to design, construct and test a phase shifting interferometer (and possibly several other setups capable of achieving the stated objectives), and will evaluate the performance relative to a commercial CCD-based imaging device.
    Mentors: Jo van den Brand and David Rabeling
    Related Project 2010: "Wave Front Detection for Virgo"
  • Related Project 2011: "Investigating Control Strategies for the Advanced VIRGO EIB IP using SimMechanics"
  • NIKHEF Project 2012: "ADC Noise Reduction and Characterization of a Compact Michelson Interferometer"



Past IREU Projects
Other Prior Projects