The seismic sensors group (led by Prof. Tomasz Bulik) activities revolve mainly around the gravitational waves theme of the Astrocent project. A detection of gravitational waves in 2015 was a great achievement and led to the opening of gravitational wave astronomy. The advancement of this new branch of particle astrophysics hinges on development and improvement of detectors. The quality of the data is related to monitoring and compensating for a variety of sources of noise. The seismic noise, apart from shaking the test masses in the interferometers, is also a source of the Newtonian – or gravity gradient – noise. This type of noise is due to fluctuations of the local gravity by seismic or sound waves in the medium surrounding the detector.
Group works with the VIRGO Collaboration, and is a part of the emerging Einstein Telescope (ET) project. Scientists work on designing and optimizing the performance of standalone seismic sensors for monitoring the future ET sites. They are also involved in work related to monitoring the infra sound field in the vicinity of gravitational wave detectors.
The studies of a seismic field for the ET involve designing and setting up underground as well as on-the-ground sensor networks. Currently researchers work on ultrasensitive sensors with the aim to build the hardware that is extremely reliable at the same time. This means that they work on projects and applications involving mechanical and electrical engineering, geophysics as well as data analysis and data mining.
In a communiqué dated 29 December, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education announced its support for the project “Astrocent Plus – Particle Astrophysics Science and Technology Centre (Astrocent Plus)”. The aim of this initiative is to develop the Astrocent Centre of Excellence in the area of fundamental research combined with innovative applied research and development activities in particle astrophysics.
The Ministry will allocate a total of PLN 29.7 million (the equivalent of EUR 7 million) to the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences (CAMK PAN). The funds will be disbursed in annual instalments through 2030.
On 19 December, the Foundation for Polish Science announced that it had awarded over PLN 34 million the project “Astrocent – Particle Astrophysics Technology Centre” in the MAB FENG competition.
Project description:
The overarching goal of the project is to develop breakthrough, highly scalable and multi-channel detection systems for scientific and commercial applications. The technologies being developed are crucial for research into the biggest questions of modern physics (including dark matter, neutrinos and gravitational waves), while also opening up new opportunities in areas such as medicine, security, environmental and climate monitoring, renewable energy, and seismology (including early-warning systems).
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