Earthquakes are the most dangerous natural hazard and one of the least-understood processes that shape our planet. In the conventional paradigm, the first messengers of the occurrence of an earthquake are the seismic P-waves, propagating at the speed of sound in rocks, a few km/s. However, the redistribution of masses during a seismic rupture also generates speed-of-light modifications in the gravity field.

The candidate will be involved in the realization of PEGASEWS, a detector of gravity signals produced by earthquakes, which will be used to develop innovative early-warning systems for earthquakes, faster than conventional ones and to study earthquakes in a completely new vay. This detector is based on a double torsion bar with interferometric read-out and, more generally, on techniques developed within the framework of gravitational-waves detectors.

The candidate will work on the design of the torsion bar and its interferometric read-out system, on the noise analysis and on the tests of the read-out system performances.

The candidata will work on an interdisciplinary tesm, composed by gravitational-wave physicsists and geophysicsts.