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



Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"
  • Mirror suspension for a third generation gravitational wave antenna:
    The student will be involved in the research effort to explore new solutions for a mirror suspension suitable in a cryogenic environment. At low temperature, heat is extracted from the mirror through the mirror suspension wires. Current advanced detector designs are based on the use of fused silica, an amorphous material characterized by low thermal conductivity and high thermal capacity at low temperature. By contrast, pure and doped Silicon, sapphire and diamond are characterized by lower elastic dissipation and high thermal conductivity, and appear as an alternative solution to fused silica. However they require a thorough investigation to determine the thermo physical limits on a suspension made of such a material in real GW detectors. For this purpose, the student will be involved in measuring the thermo physical properties of the suspension samples at room and low temperature.
    Mentor: Paola Puppo
    Related Project 2011: "Understanding the properties of fused silica fibers for Virgo's current Gravitational Wave interferometer mirror suspensions"
    Related Project 2013: "Thermal Conductivity Measurements of Sapphire Fibers"
  • Search of continuous gravitational wave signals from known pulsars:
    The search of continuous GW signals from known pulsars is done using an optimal data analysis method that allows to reach the best sensitivity at a relatively small computing cost. Even in the case of no detection interesting astrophysical constraints on the source can be obtained in some cases. The student will be involved in the analysis of Virgo/LIGO data targeted to some interesting pulsars and/or in the improvement of the analysis software. Some knowledge of Matlab is welcome.
    Mentor: Cristiano Palomba
    Related Project 2011: "Optimization of the Frequency-Spin Down Hough Transform"
    Related Project 2012: "Correction of Continuous Wave Signals for Pulsar Glitch Induced Phase Shifts"
  • All-sky search of continuous gravitational wave signals:
    The all-sky search of continuous GW signals consists in exploring a portion of the source parameter space as large as possible with the possible best sensitivity compatibly with the available computing power. Even in the case of no detection interesting constraints on the source population can be obtained. The student will be involved in the application of the analysis pipeline to Virgo/LIGO data and/or in the improvement of the analysis software. Some knowledge of Matlab and C is welcome.
    Mentor: Pia Astone
    Related Project 2011: "Optimization of the Frequency-Spin Down Hough Transform"
    Related Project 2012: "Hough Transform Method and Analysis for the All-Sky Search"
    Related Project 2013: "Cluster Statistics and Coincidences"
  • La Sapienza Project 2008: "Virgo's New Cryogenic Payload: Modal frequency analysis"


Past IREU Projects
Other Prior Projects