Lok Sabha Question No. 2021 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-09
Subject: Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: T. RADHAKRISHNAN, VIJAYSINH MOHITE PATIL, RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV, NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN, RABINDRA KUMAR JENA, DHANANJAY BHIMRAO MAHADIK, SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE, HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT, NAGARAJAN P., FAGGAN SINGH KULASTE, S.SELVAKUMARA CHINNAYAN, ASADUDDIN OWAISI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

## DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2021 TO BE ANSWERED ON 9/03/2016

## LASER INTERFEROMETER GRAVITATIONAL OBSERVATORY

## 2021.   SHRI T. RADHAKRISHNAN:

SHRI MOHITE PATIL VIJAYSINH SHANKARRAO:

SHRI SATAV RAJEEV:

SHRI NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN:

SHRI RABINDRA KUMAR JENA:

SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK:

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

DR. HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT:

SHRI P. NAGARAJAN:

SHRI FAGGAN SINGH KULASTE:

SHRI S. SELVAKUMARA CHINNAYAN:

SHRI ASADUDDIN OWAISI:

Will the Minister of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ÉÊ´ÉYÉÉxÉ A´ÉÆ |ÉÉètÉÉäÉÊMÉBÉEÉÒ àÉÆjÉÉÒ be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  set  up  the  world's  third  Laser  Interferometer Gravitational Observatory (LIGO) in India and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the advantage of setting up this observatory;
- (c) the estimated cost to be incurred for this mega science project;
- (d) whether  the  setting  up  of  ground  based  detector  will  form  a  triangulate  with  the  US detectors and will help to locate the source of a gravitational waves and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the time by which the LIGO will be set up and made operational?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (DR. HARSH VARDHAN)

ÉÊ´ÉYÉÉxÉ A´ÉÆ |ÉÉètÉÉäÉÊMÉBÉEÉÒ àÉÆjÉÉÒ +ÉÉè® {Éßl´ÉÉÒ ÉÊ´ÉYÉÉxÉ àÉÆjÉÉÒ (bÉ. c­ÉÇ ´ÉvÉÇxÉ)

- (a) Yes,  Madam.  The  world's  third  advanced  Laser  Interferometer  Gravitational  wave Observatory (LIGO-India) will be set up in India. The Union Cabinet has granted, in-principle approval, for the same on 17.02.2016. This project will be a mega science project to be jointly funded by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Department of Science & Technology (DST). The LIGO-India observatory will be part of a global network  with two other advanced LIGO observatories where scientific research has already started from   September 2015.  The LIGO-India  observatory  will  be  set  up  as  a  joint  scientific  collaboration  between  LIGO laboratories of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)  and Massachusetts Institute of

Technology (MIT) of the USA  and three lead  Indian institutions, namely, the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune,  Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar and Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore. This will be  a  nationally  coordinated  project  and  a  number  of  other  Indian  institutions  would  also participate in this project.

(b) LIGO-India  will  be  an  important  project  in  the  field  of  fundamental  sciences  in  the country. The observatory will be among the most precise scientific apparatus on the Earth, with technical capability of measuring displacements which are a billion times smaller than the size of an  atom.  This  will  help  develop  national  capabilities  in  technological  areas  such  as  control systems, lasers and optics and vacuum technology well beyond the currently available expertise in  the  country.  This  will  help  train  highly  skilled  scientific  and  technological  manpower.  The analysis of the measurements for obtaining the scientific results will involve very sophisticated computational and data handling infrastructure. Such a front-ranking scientific experiment on Indian soil will be a source of inspiration for young and budding scientists. This will help launch an entirely new discipline of gravitational-wave astronomy.

(c) The estimated cost to be incurred for the LIGO-India project is about Rs. 1260 crores. For this purpose, a Detailed Project Report will be prepared by the LIGO-India team. It is true that setting up of ground-based detector in India will form a triangulate with the US detectors  which  will  help  to  locate  the  source  of  gravitational  waves.  The  location  of  the observatory  in  India  will  have  scientific  advantage  because  of  large  separation  with  the  two observatories in USA which will permit more refined triangulation of detected gravitational wave

(d) events.

(e) LIGO-India which is planned to be set up would be operational by the year 2023.

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