Collaborative Research: Dynamics and Gravitational Wave Production of Neutron Stars and Black Holes

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Compact object binaries, consisting of neutron stars and black holes, represent one of the most likely sources of gravitational waves to be detected by LIGO and future gravitational wave observatories.  This project will design computer models to study gravitational radiation from compact object binaries.  This will include studying how the internal structure of neutron stars affects the gravitational radiation emitted in a binary merger.  Additional work will investigate opportunities for multiple messenger astronomy, in which data from several types of observations are combined to obtain a more complete picture.  In particular, this project will study possible emission of electromagnetic radiation and neutrinos from the merger of neutron stars and black holes.This research is of broad interest reaching beyond physicists to astrophysicists, mathematicians, and the general public (for whom movies will be posted to the web).  The connection of gravitational, electromagnetic and neutrino data from black hole and neutron star mergers will significantly advance our understanding of some of the most intriguing processes in the universe.  This work will provide valuable candidate waveforms for gravitational wave observatories, including LIGO.  As part of a multinational effort to compare such waveforms, this work will be especially valuable to the gravitational wave community in their efforts to detect this radiation.  Information that comes from these gravitational waves will lead to a better understanding of the internal structure of neutron stars and matter at nuclear densities.  The activities described here will provide educational and training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, including individuals from underrepresented groups.  This work uses the HAD computational infrastructure, and thus supports this broadly useful, publicly available software for scientific computing.