CAREER: Computational Gravitational-Wave Science and Education in the Era of First Observations

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A century after Einstein predicted their existence, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) discovered gravitational waves--ripples of warped space and time---from a pair of merging black holes. Imminent discoveries in the dawning era of gravitational-wave astronomy could dramatically change our understanding of the universe. This project will help scientists observe as many gravitational waves as possible while learning as much as possible about the waves' sources. Using supercomputers, the PI and students will calculate the gravitational waves from merging black holes and neutron stars, to expedite and respond to LIGO's observations; they will also model the most important source of noise limiting LIGO's reach. By teaching students from local community colleges about supercomputing and gravitational-wave science, the PI and students will help train the next generation of America's STEM workforce. This project will have a substantial positive impact on students from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM, who will learn transferable skills in research and computing while playing important roles in gravitational-wave science. The PI and student researchers will broadly disseminate their results to other scientists and the public.This award supports an integrated research and education program at California State University, Fullerton. The PI and students will simulate merging black holes and neutron stars, including those with rapid black-hole spins. They will use results from these simulations to help gravitational-wave astronomers extract the most interesting and surprising scientific results from LIGO's observations, including properties of merging black holes and tests of general relativity under the most extreme conditions. The PI and students will also model thermal noise in gravitational-wave detector optics, leveraging the sophisticated techniques used in numerical relativity to model merging black holes. This will help improve the thermal noise of high precision measurements and will increase gravitational-wave detectors' reach and sensitivity to properties of observed gravitational waves. The PI and students will integrate methods and results from their research into an annual, week-long workshop, where STEM majors from local community colleges will gain hands-on experience using a high-performance computing cluster to simulate and visualize merging black holes.