Theoretical Studies in Gravitation and Astrophysics

该奖项支持国际和平研究所、一名博士后研究助理、一名暑期研究生和两名REU学生在广义相对论和理论天体物理学方面的研究。研究领域包括引力辐射的产生、相对论流体力学、磁流体动力学和恒星动力学，它们的共同主线是引力的关键作用，特别是相对论引力。致密天体提供了主要的论坛，而物质在强引力场中的动力学是一个主要主题。具体主题包括双星中子星、双星黑洞和双星黑洞--中子星的激发和合并，双星和其他有希望的引力辐射源的引力波的产生，引力坍缩，旋转中子星的稳定性和不稳定星的演化和最终命运，伽马射线爆发源，以及星系和类星体核心中超大质量黑洞的形成和增长。这些问题中的大多数都需要大规模的计算才能解决。因此，该方法在很大程度上涉及到在并行机上进行大规模计算，以及分析建模。许多数值计算使用了UIUC国家超级计算应用中心(NCSA)最先进的计算资源。它们包括初值和演化计算，并处理包含黑洞的真空时空以及包含真实物质源和磁场的时空。这些结果对天文观测具有重要意义，包括那些计划中的引力波干涉仪，如LIGO和LISA。计划中的研究是广义相对论和天体物理学领域的桥梁。相当大一部分资金用于本科生、研究生和博士后的教育、培训和支持。这笔赠款支持加州大学本科生研究体验(REU)团队在计算天体物理学和广义相对论方面的活动。PI的每个本科生、研究生和博士后都接受了大规模计算和科学可视化以及理论物理和天体物理几个不同领域的培训，为他们在广泛的科学和技术领域追求专业生涯做好了准备。开发的计算机算法和数值代码对其他从事计算物理和天体物理工作的小组很有用。通过国际和平协会及其小组的研究和推广活动，赠款有助于在各级教育中促进计算机和可视化工具的使用，以及提高公众对引力物理和天体物理领域一些最新和最令人兴奋的发展的认识。

This award supports the research in general relativity and theoretical astrophysics of the PI, one postdoctoral research associate, one graduate student during the summer, and two REU students. The research areas include the generation of gravitational radiation, relativistic hydrodynamics, magnetohydrodynamics, and stellar dynamics, having as a common thread the crucial role of gravitation, especially relativistic gravitation. Compact objects provide the principal forum, and the dynamics of matter in a strong gravitational field is a major theme. Specific topics include the inspiral and coalescence of binary neutron stars, binary black holes, and binary black hole--neutron stars, the generation of gravitational waves from binaries and other promising astrophysical sources of gravitational radiation, gravitational collapse, the stability of rotating neutron stars and the evolution and final fate of unstable stars, gamma-ray burst sources, and the formation and growth of supermassive black holes in the cores of galaxies and quasars. Most of these topics require large-scale computation for solution. Hence the approach involves to a significant degree large-scale computations on parallel machines, as well as analytical modeling. Many of the numerical calculations employ the state-of-the-art computational resources of the UIUC's National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). They comprise both initial value and evolution computations and treat vacuum spacetimes containing black holes as well as spacetimes containing realistic matter sources and magnetic fields. The results have important implications for astronomical observations, including those planned for gravitational wave interferometers, such as LIGO and LISA.The planned research bridges the fields of general relativity and astrophysics. An appreciable portion of the funding is devoted to the education, training and support of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students. The grant supports the activities of the PI's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) team at UIUC in computational astrophysics and general relativity theory. The training that each of the PI's undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students receives in large-scale computations and scientific visualization, as well as in several different areas of theoretical physics and astrophysics, prepares them to pursue professional careers in a broad range of scientific and technical fields. The computer algorithms and numerical codes that are developed are useful to other groups working in computational physics and astrophysics. Through the research and outreach activities of the PI and his group, the grant helps promote the use of computers and visualization tools at all levels of education, as well as the public awareness of some the latest and most exciting developments in gravitation physics and astrophysics.