Feasibility Study of Einstein Telescope
Client
INFN – National institute for Nuclear Physics
Location
Sos Enattosos (Sardinia), Italy
Status
In progress
Services
Feasibility Study
Technical InformationIt is the large research infrastructure to host the future gravitational wave detector to be built in Europe, a project with global scientific and technological impact, and Italy is a candidate to host it in Sardinia in the area of the disused Sos Enattos mine.
The Italian Sos Enattos site is currently competing with another candidate site from the Netherlands, located in an area of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, on the border between the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. There are many geological reasons why the Sos Enattos area is an ideal place for the ET activities. Seismic noise, which affects detector performance at low frequencies, is very low due to the geological characteristics of Sardinia. Sardinia is, in fact, a microplate, i.e., a detached portion of the Eurasian plate that is not connected to the most active tectonic zones. Thus, the region is not affected by crustal deformation phenomena or seismicity and volcanoes. In fact, it is a stable and solid area, characterised by rock masses that are ideal for safely building the underground spaces that will constitute the ET laboratory. Moreover, the limited presence of groundwater in the area reduces the possibility of seepage or seismic and Newtonian noise. Finally, in the area around Nuoro, between the municipalities of Bitti, Lula and Onanì, there are large expanses of rural areas with very low population density and, therefore, limited anthropogenic and industrial activity. All this makes the Sos Enattos site the ‘silent’ environment that ET needs, to operate protected and insulated from the ‘noise’ that would compromise its measurements.