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

职业：引力波天文学和培养新一代引力波天文学家

• 批准号: 0955929
• 负责人: Xavier Siemens
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-11-01 至 2015-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0955929&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Gravitational; Wave; Astronomy; Training

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.

该职业奖支持 LIGO 和脉冲星计时研究中的以下项目：LIGO 仪器输出的校准——搜索引力波的基本第一步、搜索中子星引力波、搜索无线电数据中的脉冲星、搜索宇宙弦中的引力波以及搜索脉冲星计时数据中的引力波。引力波的存在，时空本身的涟漪，是爱因斯坦最非凡的预测之一。 引力波的直接探测将开创天文学的新时代，并极大地扩展我们对宇宙的认识。 LIGO（具有前所未有的灵敏度的引力波探测器）和通过自然界最精确的“时钟”监测时空的脉冲星计时实验预计将在未来五到十年内进行探测。该奖项的研究将为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使用 Einstein@Home，该项目是 PI 帮助威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校开发和维护的。 Einstein@Home 是一项分布式计算工作，它利用世界各地计算机的备用 CPU 周期来搜索 LIGO 数据中的引力波以及无线电数据中未被发现的脉冲星。 Einstein@Home 是一款极其强大的引力波搜索工具，也是一项杰出的推广成功，将引力波天文学带入了全球 250,000 人的个人电脑。该项目将包括一个外展计划，与不同的高中生、本科生、研究生和高级人员合作，参与 LIGO 和无线电数据的收集和分析、搜索脉冲星以及搜索 LIGO 和脉冲星计时数据中的引力波。学生将为尖端跨学科研究做出有意义的贡献，提高他们的学术资格，开发记录他们成就的作品集，并为追求天文学、物理学和其他 STEM 学科的职业做好更好的准备。