Research
My research activity is mainly devoted to the detection of gravitational waves, spacetime perturbations predicted by A. Einstein in 1916 on the basis of the General Theory of Relativity, and measured for the first time by LIGO and Virgo in 2015. After the first detections of signals produced by the coalescences of stellar-mass Binary Black Holes, thanks to Virgo in 2017 we observed for the first time also the signal produced by the merging of two Neutron Stars, identifying their optical counterpart and marking the beginning of the Multimessenger Astronomy era.
Main research activities:
development and integration of the detector payloads of Advanced Virgo and Advanced Virgo+;
R&D on the payloads for the Einstein Telescope;
reduction of quantum noise with squeezing techniques in interferometers;
seismic/vibrational noise reduction and characterization of experimental sites;
application of cryogenic techniques in third generation gravitational wave detectors (Einstein Telescope).
Local Research Group:
Virgo group of Roma (INFN Roma1 & Sapienza Univ.)
ET-Roma1 R.U. (INFN Roma1 & Sapienza Univ.)
Experiments:
