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

该职业奖支持LIGO和脉冲星计时研究的下列项目：校准LIGO仪器的输出-搜索引力波的基本第一步，搜索来自中子星的引力波，在射电数据中搜索脉冲星，从宇宙弦搜索引力波，以及在脉冲星计时数据中搜索引力波。引力波的存在，时空本身的涟漪，是爱因斯坦最非凡的预言之一。引力波的直接探测将开启天文学的新纪元，并极大地扩展我们对宇宙的认识。LIGO是一种具有前所未有灵敏度的引力波探测器，脉冲星计时实验将通过自然界最精确的时钟来监测时空，预计将在未来五到十年内进行探测。该奖项下的研究将为LIGO和脉冲星计时实验的成功做出重要贡献，并可能最终导致引力波的发现。研究活动的一个主要组成部分涉及爱因斯坦@Home的使用，这是PI帮助威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校开发和维护的。爱因斯坦@Home是一项分布式计算工作，它利用世界各地计算机的闲置CPU周期来搜索LIGO数据中的引力波和无线电数据中未发现的脉冲星。爱因斯坦@Home是一个极其强大的引力波搜索工具，也是一个杰出的推广成功，将引力波天文学带到了全球25万人的个人电脑上。该项目将包括一个外展计划，使不同的高中生群体与本科生、研究生和高级人员合作，参与收集和分析LIGO和无线电数据，搜索脉冲星，并搜索LIGO和脉冲星计时数据中的引力波。学生将为前沿跨学科研究做出有意义的贡献，提高他们的学术资历，开发记录他们成就的文件，并为在天文学、物理学和其他STEM学科中从事职业做好更好的准备。

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.