Topic:
A landmark for Indian scientists
Category:
#Science and Technology
Source: The Hindu, Page 12, February 19,
2016
The Union Cabinet has granted in-principle approval for a
gravitational wave detector in India.
The
clearance, awaited for five years,
comes close on the heels of the detection of the elusive gravitational waves
for the first time; the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
(LIGO) based in Washington and Louisiana in the U.S. found evidence
of gravitational waves coming from two black holes colliding and fusing
together 1.3 billion light years away.
ü By
virtue of having the same sensitivity as the LIGO detectors in the U.S. and
being geographically separated by thousands of kilometres, the Rs.1,200-crore LIGO-India project, scheduled to become operational in
about eight years, will at once vastly improve the level of accuracy
and ability to detect new gravitational wave
events.
ü Since
all detectors may not be operational all the time — for instance, the VIRGO detector, based near Pisa in Italy, had remained
shut on September 14, 2015 — the addition of an Indian detector will
increase the chances of detecting events that generate gravitational waves.
ü When
the advanced LIGO and LIGO-India detectors reach their full sensitivity, many
more events will become detectable and the ability to detect faraway signals
would also increase dramatically. For instance, 50 to 100 gravitational
wave-generating events a year may become detectable. And in the case of neutron
stars, signals from as far away as 600 million light years could be detected as
compared with 200 million light years now.
Though
Indian scientists were part of the LIGO project,
their involvement was limited to
theoretical aspects and data analysis.
ü The
LIGO-India project will change this altogether as the construction,
commissioning and running of the observatory will be India’s responsibility.
ü It
will offer unprecedented opportunities for Indian industry and scientists from
diverse fields to be actively involved in a scientific project of a scale never
before seen in the country.
ü
For instance, though many of the critical components such as mirrors and lasers
will be shipped from the U.S., an ultra-high capacity vacuum system
that can handle one million litres of vacuum (as in the case of CERN), and
secondary optics, have to be manufactured in India.
ü An
active programme to develop optics for the laser
system that could be used in future upgrades to the detectors is
already under way at the Indore-based Raja
Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology.
ü Currently
only a few students from Indian institutions are able to participate in the
LIGO project, but this will change completely when the observatory becomes
operational in India, providing easier access for a larger number of students.
Besides
playing a pivotal role in gravitational wave astronomy, the Indian observatory
could thus be a catalyst in changing the landscape of Indian scientific
efforts. Together with other mega projects such as the India-based Neutrino Observatory project,
experimental science will at last get a much-needed boost in the country.
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