Center for Gravitational Wave Physics

该奖项支持引力波物理中心的成立。 这个物理前沿中心致力于引力波现象学的发展：可以通过所有波段的引力波观测来探索的物理学和天体物理学。 它由三个紧密相连的主要研究组成部分组成：i）学习如何利用引力波提供的全新视角，与电磁观测相比; ii）使用引力波观测来测试和促进对强场，动力学引力的理解;和iii）开发结合联合收割机探测器和源科学的建模工具，以提供“先进探测器设计的科学研究。 为了实现使这一新领域的形成具体化的目标，该中心作为一个国家设施发挥作用，有一个实质性的访问者方案;专门讨论关键研究领域的讲习班、会议和研究所，专家们的集中注意力可望导致突破或迅速进步;和一个实质性的，交互式的界面，（研讨会，座谈会，讲习班和研究小组会议）为场外中心成员和计划参与者。 该中心的教育通过与教育公共电视节目“新闻是什么？“三个特别方案构成其外联方案的核心：通过参加科学和工程领域的妇女“扩大你的视野”讲习班，（侧重于7- 9年级）和妇女在科学和工程研究指导计划（重点是大学一年级和二年级的女性），以及高年级和研究生西班牙裔学生，通过与得克萨斯大学的特别联络，布朗斯维尔。即将到来的新一代地面和空间引力波探测器在广义相对论、天体物理学和实验物理学的交界处带来了令人兴奋的挑战和机遇。他们将探测到的波产生于强大的动态引力场，这为检验对完全非线性相对论引力的理解提供了第一次机会。同时，观测的天体物理意义可能是新颖的、多样的和丰富的，因为它们揭示了隐藏在电磁天文学中的过程的内在动力学：例如，星系中心的黑洞在高红移下的碰撞。 一个新的物理学领域-引力波现象学-因此即将出现;然而，由于缺乏大型实验的传统，引力物理学也缺乏一个现象学家的社区，准备充分利用即将到来的观测所提供的丰富的物理学。 引力波物理中心提供了一个智力平台，在这个平台上，现有的专业知识可以以协同的方式结合和集中，结晶形成一致的，繁荣的领域，可以完全实现引力波观测的承诺。

This award supports the formation of The Center for Gravitational WavePhysics. This Physics Frontier Center is devoted to development ofgravitational wave phenomenology: the physics and astrophysics that canbe explored by gravitational wave observations in all wavebands. It isorganized in three tightly-linked Major Research Components: i)learning how to exploit the fundamentally new perspective that gravitationalwaves offer, when compared to electromagnetic observations; ii) usinggravitational wave observations to test and contribute to theunderstanding of strong-field, dynamical gravity; and iii) developingmodeling tools that combine detector and source science to providequantitative assessments of the ``science reach'' of advanced detectordesigns. To achieve its goal of crystalizing the formation of this newfield, the Center functions as a National Facility with a substantialvisitor program; workshops, conferences and institutes devoted tocritical research areas where the focused attention of experts can beexpected to lead to breakthroughs or rapid advancements; and asubstantial, interactive interface to Center activities (seminar,colloquia, workshops and research group meetings) for off-site Centermembers and program participants. The Center's education programemphasizes middle school children nationwide, through an affiliationwith the educational public television program "What's In The News?".Three special programs form the core of its outreach program: towomen, through its participation in the Women In Science andEngineering "Expanding Your Horizons" workshop (focused on grades 7--9)and the Women In Science and Engineering Research mentoring program(focused on first and second year undergraduate women), and to upperdivision and graduate Hispanic students, through a special liaison withthe University of Texas, Brownsville.The forthcoming generation of ground and space-based gravitational wavedetectors have unleashed exciting challenges and opportunities at theinterface of general relativity, astrophysics, and experimentalphysics. The waves they will detect arise in strong, dynamicalgravitational fields, offering the first opportunities to test theunderstanding of fully non-linear relativistic gravity.Simultaneously, the observations' astrophysical implications are likelyto be novel, diverse and rich as they reveal the inner dynamics ofprocesses hidden from electromagnetic astronomy: e.g., the collision ofblack holes in the center of a galaxy at high redshift. A new field ofphysics --- gravitational wave phenomenology --- is thus poised toemerge; however, lacking a tradition of large experiments,gravitational physics lacks also a community of phenomenologists readyto fully exploit the rich physics that the forthcoming observationsoffer. The Center for Gravitational Wave Physics provides theintellectual platform upon which existing expertise can be combined andfocused in a synergistic manner, crystallizing the formation of acoherent, flourishing field that can fully realize the promise thatgravitational wave observations hold.