Expanding the Reach of Gravitational Wave Astronomy to the Edge of the Universe: The Gravitational-Wave International Committee Study Reports on Next Generation Ground-based Gravitational-Wave Observatories

The first direct detection of gravitational waves emitted from a pair of merging black holes in 2015 has been heralded as one of most significant scientific breakthroughs in physics and astronomy of the 21st century. Motivated by the tremendous scientific opportunities now opened by gravitational-wave observatories and recognizing that to fully exploit the new field will require new observatories that may take 15 to 20 years from conception until operations begin, the Gravitational Wave International Committee (GWIC) convened a subcommittee to examine the path to build and operate a network of future ground-based observatories, capable of extending the observational GW horizon well beyond that currently attainable with the current generation of detectors. This report is the first in a six part series of reports by the GWIC 3G Subcommittee: i) Expanding the Reach of Gravitational Wave Observatories to the Edge of the Universe (this report), ii) The Next Generation Global Gravitational Wave Observatory: The Science Book, iii) 3G R&D: R&D for the Next Generation of Ground-based Gravitational Wave Detectors, iv) Gravitational Wave Data Analysis: Computing Challenges in the 3G Era, v) Future Ground-based Gravitational-wave Observatories: Synergies with Other Scientific Communities, and vi) An Exploration of Possible Governance Models for the Future Global Gravitational-Wave Observatory Network.