CAREER: Gravitational Wave Astronomy and Training a New Generation of Gravitational Wave Astronomers

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This CAREER award supports the following projects in LIGO and pulsar timing research: Calibration of the output of the LIGO instruments---a fundamental first step in the search for gravitational waves, searches for gravitational waves from neutron stars, searches for pulsars in radio data, searches for gravitational waves from cosmic strings, and searches for gravitational waves in pulsar timing data. The existence of gravitational waves, ripples in space-time itself, is one of Einstein's most extraordinary predictions. The direct detection of gravitational waves will usher in a new era in astronomy and dramatically expand our knowledge of the universe. LIGO, a gravitational wave detector of unprecedented sensitivity, and pulsar timing experiments to monitor space-time through nature's most accurate "clocks" are expected to make a detection in the next five to ten years. The research under this award will make important contributions to the success of LIGO and pulsar timing experiments, and may ultimately lead to the discovery of gravitational waves. A major component of the research activities involves the use of Einstein@Home which the PI helped to develop and maintains at the University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee. Einstein@Home is a distributed computing effort that harnesses spare CPU cycles from computers around the world to search for gravitational waves in LIGO data and for undiscovered pulsars in radio data. Einstein@Home is an extremely powerful gravitational wave search tool and also an outstanding outreach success that has brought gravitational wave astronomy to the personal computers of 250,000 people around the globe. This project will include an outreach program to partner a diverse group of high school students with undergraduates, graduate students, and senior personnel to participate in the collection and analysis of LIGO and radio data, searches for pulsars, and searches for gravitational waves in LIGO and pulsar timing data. Students will contribute meaningfully to cutting-edge interdisciplinary research, enhance their academic credentials, develop portfolios documenting their achievements, and become better prepared to pursue careers in astronomy, physics, and other STEM disciplines.