DAE to scale up estimate for LIGO India

INDORE: The estimated funding requirement for ambitious LIGO India project of setting up interferometer to record gravitational waves in collaboration with the US-based detectors will see an upward revision - a figure the department of atomic energy is expected to compute in a month.

The DAE is expected to foot a revised figure of estimate for the project in a month, once it is cleared by the LIGO India Project Management Board, which is chaired by director city-based Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT)

The union cabinet gave an in-principle nod of Rs 1,260 crore for the LIGO India project that included funds for site acquisition, building of infrastructure, guiding systems, detector components and keeping it operational for next 10 years.

"The initial estimate was arrived at in 2012. It took time to hunt for the site - 4km by 4 km land area. We had to conduct a lot of site assessment studies," said scientific officer (G) Dr Sendhil Raja S, who heads the Laser and Optical Instrumentation Laboratory at RRCAT.

RRCAT scientists are involved in scouting land for the LIGO India project and developing and operationalizing critical components of the detector in collaboration with the US-based LIGO Science Collaboration.

"The cost of the project will have to be revisited. A new estimate is expected to be brought before the project management board for approval in one month. Once it is approved, DAE is expected to take up the matter with the government," Dr Raja said.

The LIGO India project is the advanced gravitational-wave detector planned in India in collaboration with US-based LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) Science Collaboration. The detector in India will form a triangulate along with the two US-based instruments in recording gravitational waves with more accuracy.

Earlier, the detector was planned to be established in Australia - in the southern hemisphere for better triangulation. But Australia could not garner funds, thus US consortium offered the same to India.

The LIGO India project is expected to be installed in 2012. Once the site is finalized, the directorate of constructions services and estate management will start working on developing the infrastructure. The detector components, many developed in RRCAT, will be simultaneously developed with the help of the US.

"The actual science operations will start by 2025. It takes a lot of time to tune the interferometer," Dr Raja said.

Once the project becomes operational, LIGO India Scientific Board, chaired by director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, will work on the science with the detector - astronomy and astrophysics. It will also oversee how to liaison with institutes and other academic works, said the RRCAT scientist.

A rough estimate suggests that over 500 trained scientists are required to run the project. The RRCAT is in the process of training them in collaboration with the projects. "Some of them are being trained in laser and optics here," said Dr Raja.