ETpathfinder becomes permanent European research center

With the expansion of the ETpathfinder, Maastricht University will become the permanent European center for the validation and integration of technologies essential for observing low-frequency gravitational waves. Part of this expansion plan is the construction of two buildings and cleanrooms large enough to house full-scale ET towers.

The construction of this ET-LFC will cost 52 million euros. In a letter to the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, the Dutch government writes that the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) will contribute 25 million euros of this amount. A few weeks ago, the province of Limburg had already indicated that it would make four million euros available for a design study of the ET-LFC.

These steps for the ETpathfinder strengthen the candidacy for the Einstein Telescope in the Euroregion Meuse-Rhine.

Towers

Lower-frequency gravitational-wave signals are of great importance, because they enable us to look much deeper into the universe than current detectors such as LIGO and Virgo allow.

These full-scale towers, 12 meters high, will be housed in two new buildings connected to the current ETpathfinder. The expansion has been given the name: the Einstein Telescope Low Frequency Development, Integration and Training Centre, abbreviated ET-LFC.

Construction starts in 2027

Professor of Gravitational Physics Stefan Hild, who leads the ETpathfinder team, indicates that this plan should be feasible thanks to cooperation with a large number of leading research institutes from across Europe. He hopes construction can start in 2027.

The ETpathfinder in Maastricht is the research laboratory in a cleanroom where technologies for the Einstein Telescope are tested and improved. The current six towers of the ETpathfinder are prototypes that are smaller than the towers that will soon be built at the three corners of the underground Einstein Telescope. By building several full-scale towers in the new ET-LFC, a fourfold advantage for ET can be achieved:

• Integration and validation of ET low-frequency technology in a system that resembles as closely as possible the requirements and conditions of the Einstein Telescope itself;
• Development and validation of installation and maintenance procedures;
• Development and validation of quality-control procedures;
• Training for personnel and development of skills.