Status of the GINGER Project

GINGER (Gyroscopes IN GEneral Relativity), based on an array of large-dimension ring-laser gyroscopes, is aiming at measuring in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory the Earth’s angular velocity with unprecedented sensitivity in order to record the general-relativity effects on top of the Earth crust; one part in 10⁹ on the Earth’s surface is the goal to access the signals expected by general relativity, due to the de Sitter and Lense–Thirring effects. This target is also valuable for Lorentz-violation in the gravity sector. GINGER is an multi-disciplinary project. Being attached to the Earth’s crust, it will provide useful data for geophysical investigation, and it will be one of the instruments in the recently proposed multi-components geophysical observatory of Gran Sasso. It is expected that the realization of GINGER will take 18 months, and it will take 3 years to reach the relative sensitivity of one part in 10¹¹.