Data Analysis Techniques for Advanced Gravitational Wave Detectors

在这个项目中，将开发和测试技术来分析来自先进的引力波探测器（GW）的数据，包括激光干涉引力波天文台（LIGO），以搜索来自天体物理物体的引力波。这个项目有两个主要目标：快速旋转的中子星（密度极高的物体，质量比太阳还大，有一个城市那么大，每秒旋转几十到几百次），以及黑洞和/或中子星的双星系统，它们的轨道在最后几秒因吉瓦辐射而崩溃。引力波（GWs）是爱因斯坦广义相对论所预测的几何和时空的扭曲，它为我们了解宇宙提供了一个新的窗口，使我们能够补充电磁波谱不同部分以及宇宙射线和中微子观测所提供的信息范围。包括LIGO在内的现代一代探测器已经建成，最近完成了几年的观测，这导致了对GW信号的强度和频率的限制。这些探测器目前正在升级到其先进的配置，具有更高的灵敏度，应该在不久的将来提供第一个直接GW探测。这个项目将涉及罗彻斯特理工学院的教师和学生，为第一次探测奠定基础，并由此开创性地扩展我们对宇宙的认识。除了寻找全球引力波外，引力波传播和探测的可视化也将被制作出来，这将有助于公众对LIGO所做科学的理解。

In this project, techniques will be developed and tested to analyze data from advanced gravitational wave (GW) detectors including the Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) to search for GWs from astrophysical objects. There are two main targets of this project: rapidly rotating neutron stars (extremely dense objects more massive than the Sun and the size of a city, spinning tens to hundreds of times every second), and binary systems of black holes and/or neutron stars in the last seconds of the breakdown of their orbits due to GW emission.Gravitational waves (GWs), distortions of the geometry and space and time predicted by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, provide a new window on the universe, allowing us to supplement the range of information available from different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum and from cosmic ray and neutrino observations. A modern generation of detectors including LIGO has been built and recently completed several years of observations which have resulted in limits on the strength and frequency of GW signals. These detectors are currently being upgraded to their advanced configuration, with an increased sensitivity which should provide the first direct GW detection in the near future. This project will involve faculty and students of the Rochester Institute of Technology in laying the groundwork for that first detection and the resulting groundbreaking expansion of our knowledge of the universe. In addition to the search for GWs, visualizations will be produced of gravitational-wave propagation and detection which will aid the general public's understanding of the science done by LIGO.