RII Track-1: Gravitational Wave Astronomy and the Appalachian Freshwater Initiative

摘要提案编号：iia -1458952提案标题：RII track1：引力波天文学和阿巴拉契亚淡水倡议机构：高等教育政策委员会非技术描述将在淡水质量研究和引力波探测（GWs）的战略和wv特定领域建立研究联盟。水质研究是由国家推动的吗？水资源管理的优先次序。一个由生物学、生态学、环境工程、化学和地质学专家组成的跨学科研究小组将通过阿巴拉契亚淡水倡议（AFI）开发分析设施和专业知识，以了解和检测在不同气候变化情景下水中复杂污染物混合物对生态和生物的影响。GW探测研究将利用WV Green Bank的Robert C. Byrd Green Bank望远镜。这个由天体物理学家和工程师组成的团队将为研究人员直接探测和表征引力波建立必要的物理和人力基础设施。该项目将通过继续教育讲习班和奖学金，扩大少数族裔和女性在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）专业的参与。公众参与将通过公民科学努力，以及博物馆和天文馆的展示和节目来实现。淡水质量研究的重点是检测新的和稀释的污染物和病原体，了解复杂的化学相互作用和病原体特征，预测污染物的运输，毒性和降解途径，以及了解降水制度中与气候相关的变化如何影响生物群落。该小组将开发快速、灵敏、低成本的传感器，用于检测有可能影响水生生态系统和淡水供应的污染物和病原体。研究人员将努力了解阿巴拉契亚溪流和河流中化学、生物和物理污染物的亚致死、慢性和累积效应。此外，该小组将模拟多种污染物混合物对生态群落的影响。探测GW和表征GW源将允许研究范围从早期宇宙宇宙学到星系的形成和演化，到局部宇宙中致密天体的种群，再到广义相对论和引力替代理论的测试。脉冲星定时阵列对超大质量黑洞双星发射的纳赫兹频率引力波的灵敏度将通过向阵列中添加更多毫秒脉冲星、开发改进的脉冲星表征算法、更好地了解源群以及提高探测GW特征的算法的灵敏度和效率来增强。

AbstractProposal Number: IIA-1458952Proposal Title: RII Track-1: Gravitational Wave Astronomy and the Appalachian Freshwater InitiativeInstitution: Higher Education Policy CommissionNon-technical DescriptionResearch Consortia will be established in the strategic and WV-specific areas of freshwater quality research and detection of gravitational waves (GWs). Research on water quality is motivated by the state?s prioritization of management of water resources. An interdisciplinary team of researchers with expertise in biology, ecology, environmental engineering, chemistry, and geology will develop analytical facilities and expertise through the Appalachian Freshwater Initiative (AFI) to understand and detect ecological and biological impacts of complex mixtures of contaminants in water under varying climate change scenarios. Research on GW detection will take advantage of the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in Green Bank, WV. This team, consisting of astrophysicists and engineers, will build the physical and human infrastructure necessary for researchers to directly detect and characterize gravitational waves. The project will broaden participation of minorities and females in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) professions through continuing education workshops and scholarships. Public engagement will occur through citizen science efforts, as well as museum and planetarium displays and programs.Technical Description The freshwater quality research focuses on detecting novel and dilute contaminants and pathogens, understanding the complex chemical interactions and pathogen characteristics, predicting contaminant transport, toxicity, and degradation pathways, and understanding how climate-related changes in precipitation regimes affect biological communities. The group will develop rapid, sensitive, low-cost sensors for contaminants and pathogens that have the potential to impact aquatic ecosystems and the freshwater supply. Researchers will work to understand the sub-lethal, chronic, and cumulative effects of the chemical, biological, and physical contaminants in Appalachian streams and rivers. In addition, the group will model effects of multi-contaminant mixtures on ecological communities. Detection of GWs and the characterization of GW sources will allow studies ranging from early universe cosmology to formation and evolution of galaxies to populations of compact objects in the local universe to tests of general relativity and alternative theories of gravity. The sensitivity of pulsar timing arrays to nanoHertz frequency gravitational waves emitted by supermassive black-hole binaries will be enhanced through addition of more millisecond pulsars to the array, development of improved algorithms for characterization of pulsars, better understanding of the source populations, and improvements in the sensitivity and efficiency of algorithms for detecting GW signatures.