Gravitational Wave Detection and Astrophysics

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表征; 2）两个汉福德干涉仪的调试，以使其超越初始设计灵敏度;以及3）对引力波的周期源进行全天搜索。因此，我们要开展的工作既包括改进探测器性能，也包括寻找银河系中尚未发现的、电磁安静的旋转中子星的证据。天体引力波的发现将标志着科学的一个重要里程碑，同时证实了引力物理学的一个基本预测，同时开辟了一个全新的天文学领域。从旋转的中子星中探测到这种波将是特别有趣的，因为许多这样的源预计会持续发射很长一段时间，从而允许更精确地进行后续调查，并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力。将进行的研究，无论是仪器和数据，将提供培训，本科生和研究生在国家的最先进的科学前沿的知识。

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.