Ding Yimin China: Underground Detector Proposed to Join Hunt for Gravitational Waves, 16 April 2004, Science, 304 p. 375, 2004, 1915
"Beijing - Using Einstein's name as a selling point, a team of Chinese scientists hopes to build an underground physics facility that will let them join the global search for gravitational waves. The project, if approved, would also mark a significant milestone in China 's support for fundamental research that doesn't promise an economic payoff.
"Gravitational waves were posited by Einstein in his 1915 general theory of relativity. But these subtle ripples in spacetime, postulated to originate in violent events such as supernovas and the collision of black holes, have never been observed. The China Einstein Gravitational Wave Observatory (CEGO) would complement existing observatories such as LIGO in the United States and VIRGO in Europe, as well as LISA, a space- based antenna being developed jointly by NASA and the European Space Agency, and DECIGO, a similar antenna under consideration by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
"China's effort is led by geophysicist Tang Keyun of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' (CAS's) Institute of Geology and Geophysics . . .
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". . . the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, the scientific home of the $350 million U.S. instrument {LIGO} . . .
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"LIGO's director, Caltech physicist Barry Barish, says it's "much too early" to know what will become of Tang's project. But he's happy to share with the Chinese his team's knowledge or building and operating such observatories. He's written letters of support for CEGO to China's Ministry of Science and Technology, CAS, and the National Natural Science Foundation to fund a series of scientific exchanges with Chinese scientists in fields - from laser interferometry, precision optics, advanced control, and high-vacuum systems to seismic isolation and crystal materials - essential to the project's success. "I wrote the letters to let the Chinese know that other scientists take the project seriously," Barish says.
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"In a poem that compares the waves to "the arrow of the universe," Tang asks his country "to not shy away from joining this international feat any more, since we have gathered the strength to leap to the frontier of gravitational wave studies." . . .
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