The 12th Einstein Telescope Symposium organized by the ELKH Wigner Research Centre for Physics (Wigner RCP) was held in Budapest on June 7-8, 2022 and witnessed the formation of the international Einstein Telescope Collaboration. This is a new milestone in the preparation of the project for the construction of the Einstein Telescope, one of the key infrastructure elements in gravity research. In addition to Wigner RPC, the ELKH Institute for Nuclear Research (ATOMKI) in Debrecen, the ELKH Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences (CSFK), and research groups formed at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics are all involved in the project from Hungary.
At the hybrid conference held at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) that involved more than 400 researchers, the current status of the project, the scientific and technological challenges, and funding opportunities were all discussed.
The announcement on February 11, 2016 by the LIGO and VIRGO collaborations of the first successful experimental observation of the long-sought gravitational waves was an important stage in gravitational wave research. Since then, the LIGO detectors in the United States and the VIRGO detectors in Italy have detected numerous gravitational waves. Though these detections have significantly expanded our knowledge of the functioning of the universe, this is only the start of our efforts to understand gravitational signals. The research community has already identified the need to build more sensitive equipment than already exists.
According to the plans, the Einstein Telescope will be an equilateral triangle-shaped object, installed a few hundred meters underground and with a length of ten kilometers. It will be capable of determining the direction of signal sources autonomously, as well as detecting a larger number of signal sources than the current equipment. Over the last few years, preparations for the telescope's construction have been taking place with broad international cooperation and the active participation of Hungarian researchers. Several options had previously been discussed as a possible location for the Einstein Telescope, including the Mátra mountain range in Hungary, but in the end it will be built in the next few years in either Italy or the Netherlands.
More current news and up-to-date information are available on the Einstein Telescope's official website.
