Virgo and the gravitational interferometry

Abstract

The Advanced Virgo detector is a long scale enhanced Michelson interferometer placed in Italy, close to Pisa, with the aim of detecting gravitational waves from astronomical sources. The Advanced Virgo interferometer has detected, together with the LIGO interferometers located in USA [1], an impressive collection of gravitational waves emissions in the last observation runs O2 and O3. During the last observation run (O3), which lasted about one year of data taking from April 2019 to March 2020, were detected about 80 events. When the run ended, the detector has been upgraded toward the Advanced Virgo + configuration, in order to enhance its sensitivity, which it is currently in the commissioning phase. After an introduction on gravitational wave detection, the paper will focus on giving an overview of the evolution of the Virgo antenna in the past decades.