Gravitational-wave detectors start next observing run to explore the secrets of the Universe – May 24, 2023

Pictures of the instruments of the current global gravitational-wave detector network. From top to bottom and from left to right: LIGO Hanford, LIGO Livingston, Virgo, KAGRA, GEO600. Pictures: LIGO Hanford, LIGO Livingston, Virgo, KAGRA, GEO600
Today the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration begins a new observing run with upgraded instruments, new and even more accurate signal models, and more advanced data analysis methods. The LVK collaboration consists of scientists across the globe who use a network of observatories—LIGO in the United States, Virgo in Europe, and KAGRA in Japan—to search for gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time, generated by colliding black holes and other extreme cosmic events. During the last years, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam and Hannover and the Leibniz University Hannover have prepared for this observing run by developing novel waveform models and data-analysis methods for extracting more information from the data, and by providing observational coverage.