Status of KAGRA

Abstract

The gravitational wave detectors LIGO and Virgo have so far detected gravitational wave signals from 90 compact binary coalescences including two from neutron star binary mergers. Those detections are revolutionizing our understanding of the universe. This ongoing revolution will be accelerated by more accurate localizations of the gravitational wave sources and by longer coincident observation by multi-detectors, which will be made possible using as many detectors as possible. KAGRA is a gravitational wave detector built at Kamioka in Gifu prefecture, Japan, well away from the LIGO and Virgo detectors, with unique features of having cryogenic mirrors and being built underground. KAGRA can be a prototype for next-generation gravitational wave detectors and our experiences benefit those detectors that would have those features to achieve further sensitivity to gravitational waves. In this presentation, the status of KAGRA is given.