Khagol Bulletin # 135 (Jan 2025) - ENG

| 05 | KHAG L | No. 135 - JANUARY 2025 LIGO India All-hands The LIGO-India project received approval from the Union Cabinet of India, and the detector is expected to start science runs by 2030. It promises a massive boost in science and technology. This mega- science project requires multidisciplinary expertise in vacuum technology, lasers & optics, quantum metrology, sophisticated electronics, data acquisition-cum-control, data hand l i ng , h i gh-per formance computing, etc. The detector building, including construction for housing the detector, is very complex; keeping that in mind, a project execution team have been identified with the distribution of work among them. Therefore, detector building demands collaboration among team members and extending among national and international institutions and universities to bring experts in this wide range of fields together and work together cohesively. IUCAA, being one of the lead institutions for executing the project, organised an all- hands meeting at its premises on December 10-11, 2024, inviting all the project execution team members for p l ann i ng and d i s cus s i on . A f ew international expertswho have contributed to building sub-systems for the LIGO US also shared their expert opinions and critically reviewed execution plans for the LI to help us for the betterment. This type of meeting was the first of its kind and is planned to be organised once every three months on a rotation basis at all other nodal institutes. In brief, the outcomes of this first all-hands meeting are, (i) Identifying the overlapping expertise, (ii) Identifying the gap of expertise that needs to be filled up for the LI detector building, (iii) Setting up priorities/ flow of the work for the LI detector building, (iv) Identifying the major focus areas of RnD required for LI and its possible upgradation, (v) Discussions on possible major bottlenecks and strategy to overcome those, (vi) plan for EPO, etc. The meeting was organised by Subhadeep De (IUCAA). The conference featured a robust program with 55 oral presentations and 21 posters. These presentations covered various topics, including the latest discoveries, methodologies, and theoretical models related to CGM and IGM research. In addition, all poster presenters participated in 5-minute flash talks, offering concise and engaging overviews of their research. A key conference component was a parallel session dedicated to the future of IGM and CGM research. Participants were split into four independent teams, each tasked with discussing emerging topics, challenges, and opportunities in these fields. These teams collaborated to generate ideas for future developments and research The conference provided an excellent platform for fostering collaboration among researchers worldwide. The event successfully advanced the dialogue surrounding CGM and IGM research through engaging presentations, in-depth discussions, and collaborative efforts. The discussions and outcomes from the conference will serve as a valuable foundation for future research initiatives and collaborations in the field. Sowgat priorities. At the conference's concluding session, the leaders of each team presented a summary of their group's discussions, offering insights and recommendations for advancing the field. Muzahid (IUCAA) and R. Srianand (IUCAA) were the coordinators of the conference.