Collaborative Research: Community Planning for Scalable Cyberinfrastructure to Support Multi-Messenger Astrophysics

合作研究：支持多信使天体物理学的可扩展网络基础设施的社区规划

• 批准号: 1841591
• 负责人: Peter Couvares
• 金额: $ 2.33万
• 依托单位: California Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-10-01 至 2020-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1841591&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Community; Planning; Scalable

Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (MMA) is an exciting new field of science that combines traditional astronomy with the brand new ability to measure phenomena such as gravitational waves and high-energy neutrino particles that originate from celestial objects. MMA was galvanized when the collision of two neutron stars (labeled GW/GRB 170817A) was detected last year by multiple large science instruments including the NSF-funded Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), its sister gravitational wave observatory VIRGO in Italy, NASA's Fermi gamma-ray telescope in space, and many other optical and radio telescopes world-wide. These multiple measurements of just one event improved our estimate of the speed of gravity to phenomenal precision, confirmed that neutron star mergers are the origin of the heavier atomic elements, and gave us a measurement of the radii of neutron stars to about one kilometer accuracy. Over the next decade, LIGO will identify dozens of such events per year. In parallel, the NSF-supported IceCube neutrino observatory at the U.S. South Pole Station and other neutrino and cosmic ray observatories are detecting high-energy cosmic rays from distant cosmological sources; and the new NSF-led Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and upcoming radio astronomy facilities will come online to survey the skies with unprecedented speed and depth throughout the Universe. While each kind of astronomical observing system will bring fascinating new discoveries, it is in their combination - through MMA - that transformative new insights into some of the most fundamental questions about the Universe can be realized: What is the nature of the highest-energy cosmic particle accelerators? What are the properties of cold and hot bulk matter at supra-nuclear densities? How do black holes form and evolve, across their full range of masses, and throughout cosmic time? The promise of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics can be realized only if sufficient cyberinfrastructure is available to rapidly handle, combine, and analyze the very large-scale distributed data from all the types of astronomical measurements. This project seeks to carry out community planning for scalable cyberinfrastructure to support MMA. The primary goal is to identify the key questions and cyberinfrastructure projects required by the community to take full advantage of the substantial investments in current facilities, and to realize the enormous potential of the multiple imminent next-generation projects over the decade to come. Two products of the project will be: 1) a community white paper that presents an in-depth analysis of the cyberinfrastructure needs and the opportunities for collaborations among astronomers, computer scientists, and data scientists; and 2) a strategic plan for a scalable cyberinfrastructure institute for multi-messenger astrophysics laying out its proposed mission, identifying the highest priority areas for cyberinfrastructure research and development for the US-based multi-messenger astrophysics community, and presenting a strategy for managing and evolving a set of services that benefits and engages the entire community. This project advances the objectives of the National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI) and the objectives of "Harnessing the Data Revolution" and "Windows on the Universe, two of the 10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments. This project is supported by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure in the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering and the Division of Astronomical Sciences and the Division of Physics in the Directorate of Mathematical & Physical Sciences.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.

多信使天体物理学（MMA）是一个令人兴奋的新科学领域，它将传统天文学与全新的能力相结合，以测量来自天体的引力波和高能中微子粒子等现象。去年，当两颗中子星（标记为GW/GRB 170817 A）的碰撞被多个大型科学仪器探测到时，MMA被激发了，这些仪器包括NSF资助的激光干涉仪引力波天文台（LIGO），它的姐妹引力波天文台VIRGO在意大利，美国宇航局的费米伽马射线太空望远镜，以及世界各地的许多其他光学和射电望远镜。对一个事件的多次测量使我们对引力速度的估计提高到惊人的精度，证实了中子星星合并是较重原子元素的起源，并使我们对中子星半径的测量精度达到约1公里。在接下来的十年里，LIGO每年将发现数十个这样的事件。与此同时，NSF支持的IceCube中微子天文台在美国南极站和其他中微子和宇宙射线天文台正在探测来自遥远宇宙源的高能宇宙射线;新的NSF领导的大型天气调查望远镜和即将到来的射电天文学设施将上线，以前所未有的速度和深度调查整个宇宙的天空。虽然每种天文观测系统都会带来迷人的新发现，但正是在它们的组合中-通过MMA -可以实现对宇宙中一些最基本问题的变革性新见解：最高能量宇宙粒子加速器的性质是什么？在超核密度下，冷的和热的大块物质的性质是什么？黑洞在其整个质量范围内以及在整个宇宙时间内是如何形成和演化的？多信使天体物理学的前景只有在有足够的网络基础设施来快速处理、联合收割机和分析来自所有类型天文测量的大规模分布式数据时才能实现。该项目旨在为可扩展的网络基础设施进行社区规划，以支持MMA。主要目标是确定社区所需的关键问题和网络基础设施项目，以充分利用对现有设施的大量投资，并实现未来十年多个即将到来的下一代项目的巨大潜力。该项目的两个产品将是：1）一份社区白色文件，深入分析网络基础设施的需求以及天文学家、计算机科学家和数据科学家之间的合作机会;以及2）多信使天体物理学可扩展网络基础设施研究所的战略计划，其中列出了拟议的使命，为美国的多信使天体物理学社区确定网络基础设施研究和开发的最高优先领域，并提出管理和发展一系列服务的战略，使整个社区受益并参与其中。该项目推进了国家战略计算计划（NSCI）的目标，以及“利用数据革命”和“宇宙窗口”的目标，这是未来NSF投资的10个大想法之二。该项目由计算机信息科学工程局高级网络基础设施办公室和数学物理科学局天文科学部和物理部支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。