On the afternoon of Thursday 19 December, during a video conference, the President of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, Alessandra Todde, the Rectors of the Universities of Cagliari and Sassari, Francesco Mola and Gavino Mariotti, and the Presidents of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) and the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Antonio Zoccoli, Roberto Ragazzoni and Carlo Doglioni, signed an inter-agency agreement for the coordination and promotion in Sardinia of initiatives to support the candidacy of the Sos Enattos mining site to host the Einstein Telescope (ET), a future European infrastructure for the search for gravitational waves.
The aim of the agreement, led by the Sardinia Region, is to create a permanent coordination to support the candidacy of the area around the abandoned mine in the municipality of Lula (NU), which facilitates the implementation of joint actions between the entities involved. These initiatives will have both a promotional purpose - such as strengthening awareness and information on the candidacy, territorial promotion and valorization of cultural identity and archaeological heritage - and a more strictly scientific and educational one, such as training in the scientific and technical field and the promotion of research activities in various key fields for ET, from geology to architecture to engineering, through environmental and socio-economic impact. Furthermore, among the actions mentioned in the agreement there are also initiatives of a strategic nature for the territory, such as strengthening air and road transport, the study of solutions for sustainable mobility compatible with ET, the creation of international schools and other initiatives that favor the reception of foreign researchers.
The coordination of the activities envisaged by the agreement will be entrusted to a management committee composed of six members (one for each entity involved) and chaired by the Sardinia Region.
«We were very keen on signing this agreement - he declared Alessandra Todd, President of the Sardinia Region, the lead body - which follows the resolutions and funding already implemented in recent weeks. Einstein Telescope is a strategic infrastructure for us, for which we have been working since day one. The agreement signed today sees us at the forefront of promoting the candidacy and the entire territory, building coordinated and participatory moments in all areas of the Region. We want to team up with universities and research institutions, involving the citizens of Sardinia", concludes Todde.
A fundamental role in the Sardinian candidacy for the Einstein Telescope is played by the local universities, as underlined Francesco Mola, Rector of the University of Cagliari: «Our university is proud to be an integral part of this initiative, which not only confirms the strategic value of our territory, but also highlights the scientific and academic excellence that we are able to offer. This agreement demonstrates the strength of the synergy between national institutes, universities, public bodies, industrial entities and the local community».
«The University of Sassari has been firmly supporting the ET project in Lula since the beginning», adds the Rector of the Sassari University Gavino Mariotti. «The Einstein Telescope is much more than a research project, it is an opportunity for rebirth for the entire island that today suffers from an unprecedented demographic decline. ET would have the power to grow new blood and new minds, triggering far-reaching virtuous processes in Sardinia. This agreement demonstrates that the institutions are ready to collaborate with each other for important common goals».
The scientific challenges of ET require strong cooperation between local institutions and the research bodies involved, which will be strengthened by the signing of the agreement. «Einstein Telescope is a project of global scientific importance, hosting this large research infrastructure in Sardinia would be an outcome of extraordinary value, for the territory and for the entire country», underlines the president of INFN Anthony Clogs. "To succeed in this undertaking, it is crucial that the Einstein Telescope is a project for everyone, that it is shared as much as possible: by civil society, by institutions, by the scientific community. We must be united. This is the meaning of the agreement signed today, the first inter-institutional one, which formally establishes a collaboration that is already underway, and provides it with a coordination committee whose role will be fundamental to promoting effective actions within the framework of a common strategy. The Einstein Telescope is an important and demanding challenge that we can win", concludes Zoccoli.
"For INAF this agreement represents a double confirmation of its institutional vocation to develop astrophysical research from the best sites and with the best technology available", declares the President of INAF Roberto Ragazzoni. «It confirms the quality of the site which, with its seismic silence, represents the best possible in Europe, in a region that already hosts the San Basilio radio telescope, managed by the Cagliari Astronomical Observatory, one of our most important structures. It also confirms the commitment in terms of technological development because our Institute intends to bring to the Sos Enattos site the best technologies for the manipulation of light and very wide field observations, precisely to refine the ability to capture the optical counterparts of those celestial phenomena that will be scrutinized by the very sensitive Einstein Telescope», explains Ragazzoni.
"The signing of this agreement represents a strong signal of collaboration and cohesion between some of the most important national scientific entities, and marks a decisive step in the process of promoting the Italian candidacy to host an ambitious research infrastructure such as ET", adds the President of INGV Carlo Doglioni. «The INGV, continuing its activity of characterization of the subsoil and of the background seismic noise of the site - thanks to the seismic sensors installed in the mine galleries - as well as of identification of the origin of the sources of this noise through temporary measurement campaigns with instrumentation installed on the surface, confirms its commitment to the development of ET and its host site, Sos Enattos, as a common home for high-profile Italian research, but will also launch the Earth Telescope project, aimed at looking into the depths of the planet to finally discover the secrets of its structure and functioning».
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