CAREER: Numerical Exploration of Dynamical, Strong-field Gravity

该奖项将支持普林斯顿大学的一项研究计划，该计划的重点是理解爱因斯坦广义相对论的强场机制。 将进行的项目包括模拟宇宙中引力波的来源（特别是黑洞和中子星等紧凑物体的碰撞），高速黑洞碰撞，引力坍缩，黑洞的内部结构以及具有额外维度的宇宙中引力的性质。 研究计划的一个组成部分也将提供一种工具，有效地教育学生通过计算机模拟进行基础科学研究的方法和过程。 这将通过开发一系列独立的计算物理学项目来实现，这些项目具有基于网络的交互界面;本科生或开始研究生将能够通过项目工作，编写和使用简化模型问题的全功能模拟代码，虽然高-学校水平的学生将能够使用网络界面来探索模拟的工作版本。2这项研究可能在几个领域产生更广泛的影响。 首先，如果宇宙中发生了这种事件，而且新一代的引力波观测站能够观测到这种事件，那么，对紧凑物体碰撞中辐射的引力波结构的了解将成为识别和理解这种事件的一个组成部分。在动力学强场范围内对广义相对论方程的解的研究，应该能使我们更深入地了解这一神秘理论的本质。此外，如果宇宙碰巧包含额外的维度，黑洞可能会在高能粒子加速器或宇宙射线与地球大气层的碰撞中产生，在极端条件下的广义相对论知识可以帮助识别和理解这些事件。最后，计算机模拟在基础和应用科学研究中的重要性在未来几年将继续增长，这项研究计划将产生的教育工具应该对培养下一代科学家和工程师有很大的好处。

This award will support a research program at Princeton University, which is focused on understanding the strong-field regime of Einstein's theory of general relativity. Projects that will be pursued include modeling sources of gravitational waves in the universe (in particular collisions of compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars), high-speed black hole collisions, gravitational collapse, the interior structure of black holes, and the nature of gravity in a universe with extra dimensions. An integral part of the research program will also be to provide a vehicle to efficiently educate students in the methodology and process of performing fundamental scientificresearch via computer simulation. This will be achieved through development of a series of self-contained computational physics projects with interactive web-based interfaces; undergraduate or beginning graduate students will be able to work through the projects to write and use fully functional simulation codes of simplified model problems, while high-school level students will be able to use the web interface to explore working versions of the simulations.The research could have broader impact in several areas. First, knowledge of the structure of the gravitational waves radiated in compact object collisions will form an integral part of identifying and understanding such events, should they occur in the universe and be seen by a new generation of gravitational wave observatories.Second, studies of solutions of the equations of general relativity in the dynamical strong field regime should provide much insight into the nature of this enigmatic theory in extreme conditions.Furthermore, if the universe happens to contain extra dimensions, black holes might be produced in high energy particle accelerators or in cosmic ray collisions with the earth's atmosphere, and knowledge of general relativity in extreme conditions could help in identifyng and understanding such events.Finally, the importance of computer simulation in fundamental and applied scientific research will continue to grow in coming years, and the educational tools that this research program will produce should be of significant benefit in training the next generation of scientists and engineers.