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International scientific delegations will meet at The University of Western Australia on Monday for the public launch of the key multi-million dollar southern hemisphere gravitational wave observatory project, proposed to be built at Gingin.

The Australian International Gravitational Observatory (AIGO) Conference brings together scientists from the USA, China, India, France, Germany and Italy and teams from the five Australian universities coordinating the project, part of one of the most challenging scientific endeavours ever undertaken: the attempt to directly detect vibrations of space called gravitational waves.

The AIGO site at Gingin was contributed by the State Government and experiments are now underway to demonstrate the technologies needed for the operation of detectors at high optical power levels.  It is anticipated scientists around the world will be able to detect gravitational waves from colliding stars and black holes and, with the addition of the detector in WA, to pin down their location in the universe.

Winthrop Professor David Blair, Director of the UWA-based Australian International Gravitational Research Centre said: "We are at the cusp of a momentous scientific breakthrough: the direct and frequent detection of gravitational waves.  We are offered a revolutionary opportunity of exploring a brand new spectrum.  They offer us a means of probing the earliest moments of the big bang where time began, and they allow us to probe the birth and coalescence of black holes where time comes to an end.  Rare and extreme states of matter which are inaccessible to direct observation by any other means can be observed in detail in gravitational waves.

"Gravitational wave detectors are the largest and most sensitive instruments ever built.  They operate near to the ultimate limits to measurement.  A multi-kilometre system of lasers and mirrors becomes a single quantum object akin to a single atom.  They can detect vibrations much smaller than the size of an atomic nucleus.

"With AIGO we can open the gravitational window to the universe.  The dark new spectrum will give us a new sense.  For the first time humanity will be able to ‘listen' to the universe, and unravel its invisible mysteries.

"With the revolutionary discoveries and new technologies of gravitational wave detectors, we can be certain that enormous benefits will follow, both with new useful instruments and with fundamental knowledge about our place in the universe.  With its award-winning public outreach centre, the Gingin Gravity Centre, AIGO will keep Australia in the forefront of this exciting new technology allowing it to reap benefits at all levels of education."

EVENTS:

•1) Public launch of the AIGO Project at the University Club Auditorium Theatre (nearest Hackett Entrance 1), 9am Monday February 22.  This event is open to the media.

This launch will include the premiere presentation of a short supercomputer generated movie Exploring the Dark Side of the Universe which features The Black Hole Orchestra - the first ever musical composition based on the sounds of black holes.

•2) Evening public lectures $20 per adult, $10 student concession, Social Sciences Lecture Theatre (nearest Hackett Entrance 1)

RSVP:  UWA Extension (+61 8)  6488 2433

A) 7.30pm: Professor Andrew Melatos, of the University of Melbourne, will present The Dark Side of the Universe

B) 9.00pm:  Professor Karsten Danzmann, of the Albert Einstein Institute in Germany, will present Listening to the Universe in Einstein's Gravitational Waves

For more information: https://www.aigo.org.au

Media references

Winthrop Professor David Blair , Director AIGRC  (+61 8)  6488 2736  /  (+61 4) 09 687 703
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716