Search for Gravitational Waves from Spinning Neutron Stars

寻找旋转中子星的引力波

• 批准号: 0855422
• 负责人: J. Keith Riles
• 金额: $ 111.76万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-07-01 至 2012-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0855422&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Search; Gravitational; Waves; Spinning; Neutron

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Research under this award will focus on a number of areas related to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Experiment: 1) co-leading the ongoing collaboration search for periodic sources of gravitational waves; 2) developing new algorithms for detecting quasi-periodic sources; 3) commissioning of a "squeezing" experiment \ on the Hanford 4-km interferometer to beat the standard quantum noise limit; and 4) detailed detector characterization of the LIGO interferometers. The work to be carried out thus includes both searching for evidence of undiscovered, electromagnetically quiet, rotating neutron stars in our galaxy and advancing the development of fundamental interferometer science. 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 durations, allowing follow-up investigation of increasing precision, and because it is believed that the characteristics of these waves will provide insight into the poorly known structure of these exotic stars. The research to be carried out, on both the instrumental and analytical sides, will provide training to undergraduate and graduate students in state-of-the-art science at the frontier of knowledge.

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。 该奖项下的研究将集中在与激光干涉仪引力波天文台（LIGO）实验相关的一些领域：1）共同领导正在进行的引力波周期源的合作搜索; 2）开发新的算法来检测准周期源; 3）委托汉福德4公里干涉仪进行“挤压”实验，以击败标准量子噪声限制; 4）LIGO干涉仪的详细探测器特性。因此，要开展的工作既包括寻找我们银河系中未发现的电磁安静的旋转中子星的证据，也包括推进基础干涉仪科学的发展。 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基本预测之一，同时开辟了一个全新的天文学领域。从旋转的中子星探测这种波将是特别有趣的，因为许多这样的源预计将持续发射很长一段时间，允许后续调查的精度越来越高，因为人们相信，这些波的特性将提供洞察这些奇异恒星的鲜为人知的结构。在仪器和分析方面进行的研究将为本科生和研究生提供知识前沿最先进科学方面的培训。