Gravitational Wave Detection and Astrophysics

引力波探测和天体物理学

• 批准号: 0555406
• 负责人: J. Keith Riles
• 金额: $ 81万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-05-01 至 2009-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0555406&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Gravitational; Wave; Detection; Astrophysics

This award supports research focused on three areas related to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Experiment: 1) detailed detector characterization of the interferometers; 2) commissioning of the two Hanford interferometers to advance them beyond initial design sensitivity; and 3) carrying out an all-sky search for periodic sources of gravitational waves. The work to be carried out thus includes both improving detector performance and searching for evidence of undiscovered, electromagnetically quiet, rotating neutron stars in our galaxy.Discovery of gravitational waves from astrophysical objects will mark a major milestone in science, simultaneously confirming one of the fundamental predictions of gravitational physics, while opening up an entirely new field of astronomy. The detection of such waves from rotating neutron stars would be especially interesting because many such sources are expected to continue emitting for long periods of time, allowing follow-up investigations with increasing precision, and because it is believed that these waves will provide insight into the poorly known structure of these exotic stars. The research to be carried out, on both the instruments and their data, will provide training to undergraduate and graduate studentsin state-of-the-art science at the frontier of knowledge.

该奖项支持与激光干涉仪引力波天文台(LIGO)实验相关的三个领域的研究：1)干涉仪的详细探测器特性；2)两台汉福德干涉仪的调试，以提高它们的初始设计灵敏度；以及3)进行全天搜索周期性引力波源。因此，将开展的工作包括改善探测器性能和寻找银河系中未发现的电磁安静的旋转中子星的证据。来自天体物理物体的引力波的发现将标志着科学上的一个重大里程碑，同时证实了引力物理学的基本预测之一，同时开辟了天文学的一个全新领域。来自旋转中子星的这种波的探测将特别有趣，因为许多这样的源预计将持续发射很长一段时间，从而使后续调查变得越来越精确，而且因为人们相信这些波将提供对这些奇异恒星鲜为人知的结构的洞察。将对仪器及其数据进行的研究将为处于知识前沿的本科生和研究生提供最新科学方面的培训。