Gravitational Waves and Radiation Reaction: An International Collaboration

该奖项被指定为全球风险基金奖，由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。无论是在地球上还是在太空中探测引力波，都将打开一扇了解宇宙的新窗口，这需要极其复杂的实验和分析技术、大型设施、大量人力和广泛的国际合作。这些波的可能来源包括黑洞和中子星的双星系统，以及螺旋状形成超大质量黑洞的太阳质量物体。将观测到的引力波信号与理论预测进行比较，将能够估计关键的天体物理和宇宙学参数，并测试爱因斯坦的广义相对论。该项目将促进引力波天文学的发展，使佛罗里达大学(UF)的PI及其学生和博士后与巴黎天体物理学研究所(IAP)的Luc Blanchet博士和他的团队能够更有效地合作。两种不同方法推导绕大质量紧凑体运动的小型紧凑体的详细比较将在相关近似中扩展到更高的阶数。这些比较将导致对紧凑体的激励和合并的动力学有更深的理解。在后牛顿近似下，双子致密天体运动和高阶引力波的计算将推广到另一种引力理论。在UF集团，Will是测试替代理论和后牛顿理论的领先专家，补充了Blanchet的专业知识。我们将把斯蒂芬·霍金在Brans-Dicke替代理论中关于孤立黑洞的一个定理推广到更复杂的两个黑洞在圆形轨道上的情况。这将利用布兰切特和怀廷最近在广义相对论中合作的二元黑洞力学定律的工作。这项工作将对引力波观测产生影响，因为该项目中建立的方程式将对开发探测器的数据分析算法至关重要。教育和培训将纳入研究计划。研究生和博士后将有机会前往合作机构进行更长时间的密集合作。拟议的研究将对我们理解广义相对论在极端天体物理系统中的应用、对科学教育以及公众对科学的理解和欣赏产生广泛的影响。

This award is designated as a Global Venture Fund Award and is being co-funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering. The detection of gravitational waves, either on Earth or in space, will open a new window on the universe, requiring extremely sophisticated techniques in experiment and analysis, large facilities, significant manpower and extensive international collaboration. Likely sources of these waves include binary systems of black holes and neutron stars, and solar mass objects spiralling into supermassive black holes. Comparison of the observed gravitational-wave signal with theoretical predictions will enable both the estimation of key astrophysical and cosmological parameters as well as tests of Einstein's general theory of relativity. This project will contribute to the development of gravitational-wave astronomy by enabling more effective collaborations between the PIs and their students and post-docs at the University of Florida (UF) and Dr. Luc Blanchet and his group at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP). The detailed comparison between two different approaches to deriving the motion of small compact bodies orbiting massive compact bodies will be extended to higher orders in the relevant approximation. These comparisons will lead to a deeper understanding of the dynamics of inspiral and merger of compact bodies. Calculations of the motion and gravitational-wave emission of binary compact bodies to high orders in the post-Newtonian approximation will be extended to alternative theories of gravity. In the UF group, Will is a leading expert in testing alternative theories and post-Newtonian theory, complementing Blanchet's expertise. We will extend a theorem by Stephen Hawking on isolated black holes in the Brans-Dicke alternative theory to the more complicated case of two black holes in a circular orbit. This will take advantage of recent work by Blanchet and Whiting in their collaboration on laws of binary black hole mechanics in general relativity. This work will impact gravitational-wave observations, as the equations developed in this project will be critical in the development of data-analysis algorithms for the detectors. Education and training will be integrated into the research program. Graduate students and post-docs will have the opportunity to travel to the partner institution for extended periods of intensive collaboration. The proposed research will have a broad impact upon our understanding of the applications of General Relativity to extreme astrophysical systems, upon science education, and upon understanding and appreciation of science by the public.