Theoretical Studies in Gravitation and Astrophysics

这一奖项授予伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校（UIUC），以支持PI教授斯图尔特L。夏皮罗除了PI，资金支持一名博士后研究助理，一名研究生在两个夏季和两名本科生（REU）的学生，以协助研究。该研究计划的知识范围涵盖了几个问题，涉及广义相对论，引力辐射，相对论流体力学和相对论磁流体力学的产生。一个共同的线索连接不同的理论主题是至关重要的作用，引力，特别是相对论引力。黑洞和中子星等紧凑的天体提供了主要论坛，强引力场中的物质动力学是一个主要主题。研究的课题包括紧密双星的螺旋和合并（双黑洞，双中子星，双黑洞中子星和双白色矮中子星），从双星和其他有希望的天体物理源产生引力波，引力坍缩，旋转，相对论恒星的稳定性和不稳定恒星的演化和最终命运，伽马射线爆发源，以及星系和类星体核心中超大质量黑洞的形成和成长。这些主题中的大多数代表了理论物理学中长期存在的基本问题，需要大规模计算来解决。因此，该方法涉及到一个显着程度的大规模计算并行机，以及分析建模。许多数值计算采用了UIUC的国家超级计算应用中心（NCSA）的最先进的计算资源。它们包括初始值和演化计算，并处理包含黑洞的真空时空以及包含现实物质源和磁场的时空。这些结果对天文观测具有重要意义，包括那些计划用于引力波干涉仪的观测，如LIGO和丽莎，并有可能改变我们对潜在现象的理解。该项目具有更广泛的影响，超出了它所处理的具体研究问题的解决方案。相当一部分资金用于本科生、研究生和博士后学生的教育、培训和支持。这些学生与PI合作研究项目资助的大部分研究课题。该补助金支持PI的本科生研究经验（REU）团队在UIUC计算天体物理学和广义相对论的活动。每个PI的本科生，研究生和博士后学生在大规模计算和科学可视化以及理论物理和天体物理学的几个不同领域接受的培训，使他们能够在广泛的科学和技术领域从事职业生涯。所开发的计算机算法和数值代码对其他从事计算物理学和天体物理学工作的小组很有用。通过PI及其团队的研究和外展活动，该补助金有助于在各级教育中推广计算机和可视化工具的使用，以及公众对引力物理学和天体物理学最新和最令人兴奋的发展的认识。

This award to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) supports the research in general relativity and theoretical astrophysics of the PI, Professor Stuart L. Shapiro. In addition to the PI, the funding supports one postdoctoral research associate, one graduate student during the two summer months and two undergraduate (REU) students to assist in the research. The intellectual scope of this research program spans several problems involving general relativity, the generation of gravitational radiation, relativistic hydrodynamics, and relativistic magnetohydrodynamics. A common thread uniting the different theoretical topics is the crucial role of gravitation, especially relativistic gravitation. Compact astronomical objects such as black holes and neutron stars provide the principal forum, and the dynamics of matter in a strong gravitational field is a major theme. Some of the topics for investigation include the inspiral and coalescence of compact binaries (binary black holes, binary neutron stars, binary black hole neutron stars and binary white dwarf neutron stars), the generation of gravitational waves from binaries and other promising astrophysical sources, gravitational collapse, the stability of rotating, relativistic stars and the evolution and final fate of unstable stars, gamma-ray burst sources, and the formation and growth of supermassive black holes in the cores of galaxies and quasars. Most of these topics represent long-standing, fundamental problems in theoretical physics requiring large-scale computation for solution. Hence the approach involves to a significant degree large-scale computations on parallel machines, as well as analytical modeling. Many of the numerical calculations employ the state-of-the-art computational resources of the UIUC's National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). They comprise both initial value and evolution computations and treat vacuum spacetimes containing black holes as well as spacetimes containing realistic matter sources and magnetic fields. The results have important implications for astronomical observations, including those planned for gravitational wave interferometers, such as LIGO and LISA, and have the potential to transform our understanding of the underlying phenomena.This project has broader impacts beyond the solutions to the specific research problems that it tackles. An appreciable portion of the funding is devoted to the education, training and support of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students. These students collaborate with the PI on the majority of research topics funded by the project. The grant supports the activities of the PI's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) team at UIUC in computational astrophysics and general relativity theory. The training that each of the PI's undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students receives in large-scale computations and scientific visualization, as well as in several different areas of theoretical physics and astrophysics, prepares them to pursue professional careers in a broad range of scientific and technical fields. The computer algorithms and numerical codes that are developed are useful to other groups working in computational physics and astrophysics. Through the research and outreach activities of the PI and his group, the grant helps promote the use of computers and visualization tools at all levels of education, as well as the public awareness of some the latest and most exciting developments in gravitation physics and astrophysics.