Maximizing Scientific Outcomes of Gravitational Wave Experiments with Rapid, High-Fidelity Numerical Models

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The direct detection of gravitational waves by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has realized a long-awaited promise to open a new window on the Universe. These waves typically originate from other galaxies through the merging of two black holes or neutron stars. The gravitational waves then travel galactic distances to reach detectors located on Earth, and the recorded gravitational-wave datasets can reveal information about black holes, spacetime, and Einstein's theory of general relativity. To realize the full scientific potential of current and future gravitational wave experiments, a model of the expected gravitational wave signal must be both highly accurate and very fast to evaluate. This award will support a multi-disciplinary approach to gravitational-wave science, drawing on collaborations with physicists, mathematicians, and data scientists to produce new algorithms and computer programs aimed at maximizing the scientific output of gravitational wave observations. This award, and more generally discoveries made with gravitational waves, will continue to engage the public through outreach efforts. Students funded through this award will be trained with a strong STEM background and will be well prepared for careers that require technical and computational skills. This award will support the development, implementation, and use of numerical techniques designed to overcome some of the most urgent challenges in gravitational wave data science. Crucially, the interpretation of gravitational wave datasets requires access to a model which is both fast-to-evaluate and faithful to the relevant physics. Using traditional techniques, these two requirements are often at odds with one another. Recently, a set of targeted numerical tools has emerged as a means to ameliorate, or in some cases overcome entirely, these bottlenecks. For large-scale relativistic astrophysics simulations, the key developments have been towards accurate and robust numerical methods and novel parallelization strategies that will afford unprecedented simulation accuracy. A different set of tools has been developed to construct surrogate models that are able to accurately reproduce numerical relativity waveforms at arbitrary parameter values within a fraction of a second. The goal of this project is to build on these recent successes and to (i) continue the development of these numerical methods by extending them to handle more challenging cases, (ii) implement these methods and models within existing public codes so that they are widely available, and (iii) carry out high-impact scientific studies made possible by the rapid, high-fidelity numerical models and simulation codes that have been built.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.