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



Virgo Site, Cascina
  • Investigation of noise of environmental origin in the Virgo VSR4 data:
    Virgo is a laser interferometer with 3km arms designed for the detection of Gravitational Waves (GW), using test mass mirrors suspended with the innovative technology of silica fibers. In coincidence with the two similar LIGO detectors in the USA, Virgo searches for GW from different astrophysical sources in a frequency band from 10Hz to 10kHz. The low frequency region (i.e. below 100Hz) is of particular interest in the search for continuous sinusoidal GW emitted by neutron stars. Environmental sources of noise, which are either very close or very intense, can overcome the sophisticated isolation systems and degrade the detector sensitivity. For example, detector infrastructure machines (such as cooling fans and pumps) produce persistent vibration noise at low frequencies, and have been observed in the past to affect the Virgo sensitivity. The identification and reduction of such noise is of great importance in the search of GW from neutron stars. The fourth science run (VSR4) will take place during the spring-summer of 2011. During the run, real-time algorithms will process the GW signal and auxiliary environmental channels (seismometers, microphones and magnetometers) and extract information on transient events, frequency peaks, coherence and band-limited RMS. These data will be available in mySQL database tables, for use in reducing noise from infrastructure sources. The student would:
    i) analyze these data, using cross-correlation studies to identify external noise interference,
    ii) carry out experimental measurements to isolate noise propagation paths and sources, and
    iii) take part in research to test and evaluate mitigation solutions.
    Mentor: Irene Fiori
    Related Project 2008: "Environmental Noise in the Virgo Interferometer"
    Related Project 2009: "Noise-hunting during the VSR2 run at Virgo"
    Related Project 2010: "Characterization of the Virgo Seismic Environment"
    Related Project 2011: "Environmental Noise of VSR4 and Preparing for Advanced Virgo"
    Related Project 2013: "Characterization of Magnetic Glitches in VSR4 data using correlations between Omicron triggers"
  • Virgo Project 2008: "Computer Analysis of Thermal Lensing in TGG and DKDP"
    Virgo Project 2013: "Testing the magnetic fields produced from twisted wires"


Past IREU Projects
Other Prior Projects