Data Handling and Analysis Infrastructure for Gravitational-wave Astronomy

引力波和黑洞是爱因斯坦广义相对论中最引人注目的预言之一。激光干涉仪引力波天文台（LIGO）是一个雄心勃勃的国家科学基金会资助的项目，旨在直接探测引力波并利用这些引力波探索宇宙。LIGO是全球引力波观测站网络的一部分，这些观测站准备利用引力波作为一种新的天文工具来探测黑洞、中子星、超新星和早期宇宙。先进LIGO （aLIGO）的建设于2015年初完成，第一次观测运行（O1）于2015年9月12日至2016年1月19日。2015年9月14日，随着LIGO首次观测到双黑洞并合产生的引力波，我们进入了引力波天文学的时代。LIGO科学合作（LSC）的科学目标依赖于大量的计算基础设施，包括天体物理数据分析、探测器和分析中间件、软件可持续性和计算硬件支持。对于引力波天文学来说，网络基础设施和探测器本身一样重要。该奖项旨在维持和增强aLIGO的网络基础设施，将使未来引力波观测带来的变革性新科学成为可能。LIGO数据网格（LDG）是一个分布式计算设施，它承载了中间件和支持人员，需要将计算机集群集合转变为引力波科学的强大数据分析引擎。该奖项为技术人员提供资金，他们将继续支持和维护LDG，并在服务、可扩展性和可靠性方面提供实质性改进，以维持aLIGO的科学回报。该项目的主要目标是：允许LSC完成对早期aLIGO观测的分析，提供软件基础设施和服务，以支持aLIGO及其国际合作伙伴的引力波天文学，提供将引力波天文学与更广泛的天文社区结合起来所需的网络基础设施，并为科学界和公众提供开放访问LIGO数据的原型工具。该研究项目将培养学生和博士后成为下一代网络基础设施的专家，推动LIGO地理分布的边界，本地可用的计算数据网格，并维持该网络基础设施的运行，以支持LIGO的科学任务。与外部合作伙伴（包括Internet2、Globus、Condor和Pegasus）的拟议合作将对LSC之外产生重大影响。

Gravitational waves and black holes are among the most dramatic predictions of Einstein's General theory of Relativity. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) is an ambitious NSF-funded project designed to directly detect gravitational waves and to use these waves to explore the universe. LIGO forms part of a world-wide network of gravitational-wave observatories poised to probe black holes, neutron stars, supernovae and the early universe using gravitational waves as a new astronomical tool. The construction of Advanced LIGO (aLIGO) was completed in early 2015 with the first observing run (O1) from 12 September 2015 to 19 January 2016. With the first observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger by LIGO on 14 September 2015, we entered the era of gravitational-wave astronomy. The scientific goals of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) rely on a substantial computational infrastructure, which spans astrophysical data analysis, detector and analysis middleware, software sustainability, and computational hardware support. Cyber-infrastructure is as essential to gravitational-wave astronomy as the detectors themselves. This award to sustain and enhance aLIGO's cyber-infrastructure will enable the transformational new science that future gravitational-wave observations will bring. The LIGO Data Grid (LDG) is a distributed computational facility that hosts the middleware and support personnel needed to turn a collection of computer clusters into a powerful data analysis engine for gravitational wave science. This award provides funding for the skilled personnel who will continue to support and maintain the LDG and deliver the substantial improvements in services, scalability and reliability needed to sustain the scientific return from aLIGO. The primary goals of this project are: to allow the LSC to complete the analysis of early aLIGO observations, to deliver the software infrastructure and services to support gravitational-wave astronomy with aLIGO and its international partners, to provide the cyber-infrastructure needed to bring gravitational-wave astronomy together with the broader astronomical community, and to prototype tools for open access to LIGO data for the scientific community and the public. This research program will train students and postdocs to be experts in next-generation cyber-infrastructure, push the boundaries of LIGO's geographically distributed, locally-available computational data grid, and sustain the operation of this cyber-infrastructure to support LIGO's science mission. Proposed collaborations with external partners (including Internet2, Globus, Condor and Pegasus) will have significant impact outside the LSC.