WOU-MMA: Shedding New Light on Buried Cosmic Accelerators with Gravitational Waves and High-Energy Neutrinos

该奖项支持引力波探测和中微子观测的数据分析研究，并解决了NSF“宇宙之窗”大构想的优先领域。自爱因斯坦首次预言引力波的存在以来，经过100年的发展，引力波现在经常被LIGO和处女座天文台发现。这些由时空曲率变化带来的波告诉我们，在遥远的宇宙中，黑洞和超紧凑的死恒星（被称为中子星）之间发生了剧烈碰撞。研究这些遥远的碰撞使我们能够探索物理学的基本定律，宇宙的演化，以及我们银河系甚至太阳系的起源。这项研究将解决宇宙碰撞的一个基本方面：它们将粒子加速到极高能量的能力，比在地球上实现的能量高大约10亿倍。这项工作将寻找引力波探测到的碰撞中极端加速的中微子特征。特别是，它将阐明目前未知的机制，即黑洞可以喷出高能粒子，同时从碰撞的碎片中吞噬物质。此外，对来自黑洞和中子星碰撞的多个宇宙信使的观测将被开发并用作训练学生物理和其他方面的教育工具。该项目的主要主题是对来自紧密双星合并和核心坍缩超新星的引力波和高能中微子的多信使观测。数据将从LIGO和处女座引力波天文台以及冰立方中微子天文台进行分析。这项工作的主要目标是找到并理解由于稠密气体、恒星包层或源与观测者之间的喷射物而导致电磁暗的多信使源。这项工作将研究一种最先进的搜索技术，帮助LIGO实现其全部潜力，通过更接近地探测到多信使天体物理学中最后一块缺失的拼图：对引力波和中微子的联合观测。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award supports research in data analysis from gravitational wave detections and neutrino observations and it addresses the priority areas of NSF's "Windows on the Universe" Big Idea. After 100 years of development since Einstein first predicted their existence, gravitational waves are now regularly discovered by the LIGO and Virgo observatories. These waves, carried by the changing curvature of space-time, inform us of violent collisions of black holes and ultracompact dead stars, called neutron stars, in the distant cosmos. Studying these distant collisions enables us to probe the fundamental laws of physics, the evolution of the universe, and the origin of our Galaxy or even our Solar System. This research will address a fundamental aspect of cosmic collisions: their ability to accelerate particles to extremely high energies, about a billion times higher than what has been achieved on Earth. The work will search for the neutrino signature of extreme acceleration from collisions detected by gravitational waves. In particular it will elucidate the currently unknown mechanisms by which black holes can eject energetic particles while swallowing matter from the debris of the collision. Additionally, the observation of multiple cosmic messengers from colliding black holes and neutron stars will be developed and used as an education tool to train students in physics and beyond.The major theme of the project is the multi-messenger observation of gravitational waves and high-energy neutrinos from compact binary mergers and core-collapse supernovae. Data will be analyzed from the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave observatories and the IceCube neutrino observatory. The main goal of the work is to find and understand multi-messenger sources that are electromagnetically dark due to dense gas, stellar envelope, or ejecta between the source and the observer. The work will investigate a state-of-the-art search technique to help LIGO achieve its full potential by bringing closer the detection of the last missing puzzle piece from multi-messenger astrophysics: the joint observation of gravitational waves and neutrinos.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.