CAREER: Research and Education in Gravitational Wave Astronomy and Gravitation Physics

将研究引力波天文学的几个不同领域的理论研究，以及引力物理和相对论天体物理领域的理论研究。主要主题是：(A)对引力波探测器网络将能够测量聚集双星中子星的距离和质量的精度进行理论模拟，这是最有希望的源类型；(B)研究如何通过正在考虑在日本和/或澳大利亚建造更多的探测器系统来提高这一精度；(C)确定将用于分析实验数据的理论模板波形所需的精度水平；(D)开发新的计算工具，将有助于未来计算来自超大质量黑洞的低频波；(E)定量探索测量来自遥远黑洞的引力波的前景-通过地面探测器和未来可能的天基探测器进行黑洞合并；(F)探索量子场与经典引力耦合时发生的“反引力”效应，其动机是期望这一现象将产生对量子引力本质的洞察；(G)对黑洞内部结构的理论探索，深入探讨广义相对论的理论结构，并揭示其鲜为人知的非线性特征。此外，康奈尔大学将为研究生和感兴趣的教师开发和教授一门全面的入门课程，涵盖引力波天文学的各个方面：广义相对论预测的波的物理性质，探测它们的实验技术，预期源的目录，以及我们希望从波中提取的关于引力性质、宇宙学和各种源的信息。讲稿将在万维网上提供，以便康奈尔大学以外的广大听众都能看到。这些网页将定期更新，使其与该领域的最新理论和实验研究保持最新情况，从而使教育机构与当前的研究密切相关。总而言之，希望该课程将有助于课程开发，促进跨学科互动，并向广大受众传播专业知识。

Theoretical research in several different areas of gravitational wave astronomy, and also in areas of gravitation physics and relativistic astrophysics will be studied. The principal topics are: (A) theoretical simulations of the accuracy with which a network of gravitational wave detectors will be able to measure the distances to and masses of coalescing binary neutron stars, the most promising expected type of source; (B) investigations of how this accuracy will be improved by the construction, now being considered, of additional detector systems in Japan and/or Australia; (C) determining the required level of accuracy for theoretical template waveforms that will be used to analyze the experimental data; (D) developing new calculational tools that will be useful in future calculations of low frequency waves from supermassive black holes; (E) exploring quantitatively the prospects for measuring gravitational waves from distant black hole --- black hole mergers, both by ground based detectors and possible future space-based detectors; (F) an exploration of the effects of `anti-gravity` that occur when quantum fields are coupled to classical gravity, motivated by the expectation that this phenomenon will yield insight into the nature of quantum gravity; (G) theoretical explorations of the structure of a black hole's interior which probe deeply into the theoretical structure of general relativity and bring out its poorly-understood nonlinear features. In addition a comprehensive introductory course will be developed and taught at Cornell to graduate students and interested faculty, covering the various aspects of gravitational wave astronomy: the physical properties of the waves as predicted by general relativity, the experimental technology to detect them, the catalogue of anticipated sources, and the information we hope to extract from the waves about the nature of gravity, about cosmology, and about the various sources. The lecture notes will be made available on the world wide web so as to be accessible to a wide audience beyond Cornell. These web pages will be periodically updated to bring them up to date with the latest theoretical and experimental research in the field, thus tying the educational facility closely to current research. In summary, it is hoped that the course will contribute to curriculum development, foster interdisciplinary interactions, and disseminate specialized knowledge to a wide audience.