IGFAE joins REDONGRA to boost Spain’s role in gravitational wave research

The Galician Institute of High Energy Physics (IGFAE), a joint center of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and the Xunta de Galicia, and a member of the CIGUS network — an initiative promoted by the Xunta that brings together research centers recognized for their scientific excellence — has joined the Spanish Network for Gravitational Wave Physics (REDONGRA).

REDONGRA, which has recently received significant funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the 2024 Research Networks call, has two main objectives: to coordinate and maximise Spain’s contribution to gravitational wave science and to prepare the next generation of scientists and infrastructure for future flagship missions like LISA and the Einstein Telescope.

The network will develop a roadmap for Spain’s strategic involvement in these missions to advance their understanding of the Universe through the detection and analysis of gravitational waves.

The Gravitational Waves team at IGFAE is one of 20 leading research groups across Spain that form part of this network, which is coordinated by senior researcher Carlos Fernández Sopuerta at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC).

Led by Thomas Dent & Juan Calderón Bustillo, has played a significant role in the Spanish community since its inception in 2018, being the only group to undertake the end-to-end analysis of gravitational-wave signals from detection through to astrophysical interpretation.

The IGFAE team is currently working to finalize the latest results from the most recent observing run of LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA, which recently identified the 300th candidate detection from merging black holes or neutron stars since 2015.

20 Leading Research Groups in Spain

In addition to IGFAE, the REDONGRA network is made up of the following institutions: the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), the Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT), the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB), the Institute of Materials Structure (IEM-CSIC), the Institute for High Energy Physics (IFAE), the Institute of Physics of Cantabria (IFCA-CSIC/UC), the Institute for Corpuscular Physics (IFIC-CSIC/UV), the Institute for Theoretical Physics (IFT-CSIC/UAM), the Galician Institute of High Energy Physics (IGFAE), the University of Alicante (UA), the University of Cádiz (UCA), the University of Granada (UGR), the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), the Polytechnic University of Catalonia – BarcelonaTech (UPC), the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), the University of Salamanca (USAL), and the University of Valencia (UV).