The GRAVITY and GRG research groups of the Institute of Computational Code Applications for the Community contribute 22 researchers to make possible the launch of the first space observatory for gravitational waves
The University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) holds a leadership position in international research on gravitational waves. It is the third institution that contributes the most personnel to the LISA space mission consortium, with which the European Space Agency (ESA) aims to launch the future space observatory for gravitational waves in collaboration with NASA and the international scientific community.
In total, 22 researchers from the Gravitational Physics: Theory and Observation (GRAVITY) research group, led by Dr. Alícia Sintes, and the Relativity and Gravitation (GRG) group, led by Dr. Carles Bona, participate in the LISA mission consortium. All researchers are also members of the Institute of Computational Code Applications for the Community (IAC3) at UIB.
The participation of UIB researchers in the LISA mission is carried out primarily through two projects. The first is the project “Advanced Technologies for the Exploration of the Universe and its Components” (SINCO2022/6719), funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MRR fund) and the Ministry of European Funds, University, and Culture, with funding from the NextGenerationEU of the European Union (PRTR-C17.I1), through the R&D program within the framework of the Complementary Plan for Astrophysics and High-Energy Physics.
The second project is “From LIGO to LISA: Towards a New Era of Gravitational Wave Astronomy” (GWera) (PRD2018/24), funded by the Government of the Balearic Islands through the General Directorate of University Policy and Research using the fund for the promotion of sustainable tourism.
Additionally, researchers from the GRAVITY group have taken on significant responsibilities within the LISA mission framework. This includes Dr. Anna Heffernan, a postdoctoral researcher, who co-leads the LISA working group responsible for coordinating and supervising the development of waveform templates for the analysis of LISA mission signals. Dr. Heffernan is also a member of the group dedicated to managing internal communication within LISA.
Furthermore, Dr. Sascha Husa, a contracted professor in the Department of Physics at UIB and the UIB’s principal investigator within this consortium, leads a work package dedicated to the development of waveform models for binary black hole systems for LISA.
Why a space observatory?
Direct detections of gravitational waves from the merger of black holes by the observatories of the LIGO scientific collaboration, in which UIB participates through the GRAVITY group, have been limited so far to objects with masses of about a hundred times that of the Sun, producing high-frequency signals. Sources with much larger masses, such as mergers of massive black holes at the centers of galaxies, produce signals at much lower frequencies, currently undetectable on Earth.
The goal of the LISA mission is to launch, presumably in 2034, a space observatory for gravitational waves consisting of three space probes with an arm length of 2.5 million kilometers. These probes will scan the sky looking for signs of gravitational waves originating from distortions of spacetime while following the Earth during its orbit around the Sun. This giant detector will capture gravitational waves, among many sources, from orbiting black holes that are hundreds of millions of times more massive than the Sun. LISA is expected to reveal parts of the universe that remain invisible by other means, such as supermassive black holes, the big bang, and other still unknown objects. Thus, it will improve our knowledge of the beginning, evolution, and structure of the universe.