CAREER: Probing Astrophysics Frontiers With Gravitational Wave Bursts

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This CAREER award will focus on methods for detecting gravitational waves in LIGO data especially gravitational wave bursts (GWBs), transient signals with a broad range of possible astrophysical sources. GWB detection is pursued with minimal assumptions on the source and the signal morphology: this offers the intriguing possibility of serendipitous discoveries, but also the challenges of interpreting an unmodeled result and extracting its science. The PI will build on past experience to establish a robust program in GWB science, with two components, both timely for LIGO. 1) GWB Science in Enhanced LIGO. The PI's group will have a lead role in the prompt analysis of Enhanced LIGO data (collected during 2009-2010) and in the achievement of high confidence in a potential GWB detection, understanding and suppressing the rate of noise transients that constitute the ultimate sensitivity limit for LIGO. This effort will provide input from the analysis to detector experts and devise software remedies when noise sources cannot be found or fixed. 2) Preparing for Advanced LIGO and gravitational wave astronomy with GWBs. In the longer term, the group will implement techniques of parameter estimation and interpretation of GWB detections, in collaboration with numerical relativity and source modeling experts, to maximize the science output from the start of Advanced LIGO (in approximately 2014). In addition, the group will participate in multi-messenger observations with electromagnetic and neutrino counterparts. Gravitational waves are a new science frontier. These tiny ripples in the fabric of spacetime, predicted by the Theory of General Relativity, carry information from the most catastrophic and mysterious events in our universe: the birth and death of a star, the collision of black holes and the Big Bang. As LIGO makes steady progress towards its Advanced configuration, and in the anticipation of detection, gravitational wave scientists, numerical relativists and astrophysicists are joining forces and preparing for a new era of gravitational wave astronomy: a multi-disciplinary approach is crucial for the success of the gravitational wave program. Graduate student training is integrant part of this proposal, on three fronts. In the next five years the PI will: (1) supervise graduate students, active in LIGO core science, in her group and as task leader in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC); (2) establish a mentoring program to support scientific and professional development of graduate students across the LSC, with the support of the LIGO Academic Advisory Council, of which she is member; (3) design a new course on introductory data analysis techniques for UMass graduate students and advanced undergraduates in astrophysics and particle physics. For a broader outreach, this outreach will also support the deployment of a program on supernovae, black holes and gravitational waves, with lectures and hands-on activities. This will add an astrophysics component to UMass STEM activities like the after-school STEM-RAY and the Saturday Seminar series for teachers. The program will be brought to K-12 classrooms and girl scout troops in Western Massachusetts, to encourage the interest of girls in science. Students and postdocs will be engaged in the preparation and delivery of this outreach, for a mutual learning experience.