Applications are invited for a long term project position (JRF) at the Chennai Mathematical institute in the field of Gravitational Wave Astronomy on a grant funded by the Department of Science and Technology.

• Scientific & Technical Officer - F : Experimental Laboratory (LIGO-India)
• Qualification & Experience:B. E. / M. Sc. with 10 years exp. or M.E. with 8 years exp. or Ph.D. with 6 years’ experience in high level Research/ Development activity of relevance to IUCAA.
• Duties & Responsibilities: Selected candidate will carry out experimental work and research in gravitational wave science and engineering. As part of the LIGO-India team at IUCAA, he/she will shoulder the responsibility of installing and commissioning the LIGO-India detector at site, help coordinate and carry out training activities, facility management at site and also have leadership capability to manage technical teams. This work involves expertise and experience in Detector operations, Interferometric techniques and optical design, Quantum optics, Precision experiments, Seismic isolation, or Control systems, among others. A positive performance in this role will lead to increased responsibilities, and an opportunity to grow within the project. The selected candidate will have to take up science case studies, and contribute to education and public outreach, as and when required. He/she will have some time for individual research.
• url: http://www.iucaa.in/Opportunities.html

Deadline: February 26, 2018

LIGO Laboratory at California Institute of Technology hosts a 10-week summer student research program every year, called the LIGO SURF Program. In consideration of the upcoming LIGO-India project, LIGO has graciously agreed to host a few talented and motivated undergraduate students from Indian institutions, pre-selected by IndIGO, as part of this program.

LIGO Laboratory at California Institute of Technology hosts a 10-week summer student research program every year, called the LIGO SURF Program. In consideration of the upcoming LIGO-India project, LIGO has graciously agreed to host a few talented and motivated undergraduate students from Indian institutions, pre-selected by IndIGO, as part of this program.

17 August 2017 saw a major breakthrough in astronomy, when gravitational waves from a pair of colliding neutron stars were detected for the first time by the US-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Europe-based Virgo. This happens to be the strongest gravitational-wave signal detected so far, owing to the relatively close location of about 130 million light-years from earth. The detection was also confirmed by a large number of telescopes around the world that studied various forms of radiation from the merger. This is a new milestone in the success saga of advanced gravitational wave detectors, which have announced the discoveries of four black hole mergers to date. The first such detection in 2015 led to the awarding of the Nobel prize in physics this year.

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne of the LIGO/VIRGO Collaboration "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves”.

The LIGO observatories in the USA observed the gravitational-wave signals from yet another merging black hole pair. This time, LIGO was joined by the Virgo observatory from Europe, which significantly contributed to the improved localization of this astronomical source in the sky, and enabled new tests of Einstein's theory based on the polarization of gravitational waves.

The construction of an ultra-high vacuum environment to host the country's first LIGO detector as part of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO-India) project in Maharashtra will begin by 2020, said Sekhar Basu, secretary, department of Atomic Energy.

Read the Times of India article...

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has made another successful detection of gravitational waves, ripples in space and time, from the merger of two massive black holes that happened three billion light years away. This firmly reiterates the remarkable launch, announced last year, of a new window of astronomy.