L2IT

The “Laboratoire des 2 Infinis – Toulouse” (L2IT) is a joint research unit of CNRS, via the Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (IN2P3), and the Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier. Researchers and engineers at L2IT are studying the two infinities – the infinitely small and the infinitely large – and the relationships between the phenomena that govern each of them. In particular, the laboratory focuses its research activities on particle physics, gravitational waves and nuclear physics, and supports them with a dedicated team of experts in scientific computing and data. The laboratory is associated with major international collaborations e.g. at CERN in Geneva, the gravitational wave detector Virgo at EGO, the space gravitational wave detector LISA, and the GANIL FAZIA experiment in Caen.

Main contact for TNA call: Nicola Tamanini

Available expertise

The gravitational wave group at the L2IT conducts research on both theoretical and experimental aspects of GW science, with a distinct focus at exploiting new ideas connecting theory with observations through data analysis and numerical simulations. The group is part of the LISA Consortium, of the Virgo collaboration and of the Einstein Telescope (ET) Consortium.

The gravitational wave group at the L2IT offers a wide range of expertises in the context of gravitational wave astronomy:

• Gravitational wave data analysis (detection, parameter estimation, systematic bias estimation);
• Gravitational wave inference (on cosmological parameters, on astrophysical and environmental effects, on deviations from general relativity);
• Gravitational wave theory (foundations of general relativity, source and waveform modelling, gravitational wave propagation, theories beyond general relativity, characterization of source environmental effects);
• Gravitational wave cosmology (inference on cosmological parameters, interplay with electromagnetic observations, theory, standard siren methodologies);
• Galaxy catalogues for joint analyses with gravitational waves (construction of the catalogues, accessibility, optimisation, calculation of relevant properties, interface with gravitational wave cosmological pipelines);
• Gravitational wave open data (storage, accessibility, documentation, tutorials and training).

The group is an active participant in several research projects for both ground-based (Virgo and ET) and space-based (LISA) detectors. It has a long standing experience and maintained many roles of responsibility in different gravitational wave large international collaborations.

Furthermore some members of the L2IT gravitational wave group have a wide experience supporting early-career scientists in gravitational wave astronomy. In particular they participated in the development of different early-career scientists support groups associated with large international collaborations (LECS, VECS), as well as to the creation of the Gravitational Wave Early Career Scientists (GWECS) association.

Available tools

The L2IT contributes to the development and the maintenance of different scientific digital products connected to gravitational wave observations. Members of the L2IT are in particular actively contributing to the GLADE galaxy catalogues, the lisabeta data analysis code for LISA and the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center (GWOSC).