Travel Support for Workshop on Gravitational Wave Tests of Alternative Theories of Gravity in the Advanced Detector Era at Montana State University April 5-7, 2013

由该奖项支持的科学研讨会将专注于创造性和潜在的变革性研究，这是第一次致力于用引力波测试爱因斯坦理论。这是充分利用引力波探测潜力的关键一步。鉴于即将到来的先进探测器和引力波天体物理学的曙光，这种类型的研究也是及时和相关的。上述目标与主要研究者Yunes的长期目标完全一致，他拥有多年的经验来实现这一目标。引力波的影响标志着系统性地偏离爱因斯坦的预测显然是惊人的。但是，没有偏离爱因斯坦的理论也将构成科学的一大步，一劳永逸地证明爱因斯坦的理论在最极端的引力场景中也是有效的。引力波天体物理学正在进入一个发现和探索的新时代，预计在未来几年内将通过美国的地面干涉仪Advanced LIGO进行首次探测。LIGO的关键任务之一是测试爱因斯坦的广义相对论，这是以前从未测试过的：相对于地球或太阳的引力，引力是巨大的。这样的任务是可以实现的，因为当黑洞和中子星在银河系和附近星系中碰撞时，引力波会编码这种力的信息。该奖项的主要目的是资助一个科学研讨会，该研讨会将汇集引力波理论和数据分析方面的专家，以及改进引力理论方面的专家，讨论如何利用引力波的发现来更多地了解爱因斯坦的理论。这一活动是将于2013年4月在蒙大拿州博兹曼举行的更广泛的外联举措“庆祝爱因斯坦”的一部分。

The Scientific Workshop supported by this award will be focused on creative and potentially transformative research, constituting the first dedicated effort to test Einstein's theory with gravitational waves. This is an essential step to exploit the full potential of gravitational wave detection. This type of research is also timely and relevant, in view of upcoming, advanced detectors and the dawn of gravitational wave astrophysics. The objectives delineated above align perfectly with the Principal Investigator Yunes' long-term goals, who has years of experience building up to this objective. The impact of gravitational waves signaling a systematic departure from Einstein's predictions is clearly breathtaking. But the lack of a departure from Einstein's theory would also constitute a huge step for Science, proving for once and for all that Einstein's theory is also valid in the most extreme gravitational scenarios. Gravitational wave astrophysics is entering a new era of discovery and exploration, with first detections expected within the next few years with Advanced LIGO, the ground-based interferometer in the United States. One of the key missions of LIGO is to test Einstein's theory of General Relativity where it has never been tested before: where the gravitational force is enormous relative to Earth's or the Sun's pull. Such a task is achievable because gravitational waves encode information about this force when black holes and neutron stars collide in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies. The main objective of this award is to fund a scientific workshop that will bring together experts in gravitational wave theory and data analysis, together with experts in modified gravity theories, to discuss how the discovery of gravitational waves can be leveraged to learn more about Einstein's theory. This event is part of a broader outreach initiative, called "Celebrating Einstein", to be held in Bozeman Montana in April 2013.