WOU-MMA: Improved Data Access for GW Astronomy

该奖项支持相对论和相对论天体物理学的研究，并解决了NSF“宇宙之窗”大构想的优先领域。引力波天文学是天体物理学中发展最快的领域之一。在过去的几年里，干涉引力波天文台LIGO和Virgo首次开始记录黑洞和中子星的紧密天体合并。这些发现对我们研究宇宙中黑洞数量的能力产生了巨大的影响，通过研究中子星的致密内部来了解基本粒子物理学，以前所未有的方式测试广义相对论，以及调查一系列其他主题。来自这些尖端仪器的数据通过引力波开放科学中心（GWOSC）在gww -openscience.org上提供给科学界和公众。随着LIGO和Virgo变得更加敏感，发现的速度也在迅速加快。从2015年开始，观测到的紧密天体合并的数量从1个增加到10个，再到50个。在最后一次观测运行中，LIGO和Virgo大约每周观测一次黑洞或中子星的合并，未来的升级预计会使这一速度增长。当我们开始记录成百上千个这样的天体物理事件时，科学界将需要一套新的工具来访问和分析与这些发现相关的信息。该项目将资助建设一个新的“事件门户”，它将允许世界各地的科学家、教师、学生和爱好者浏览紧凑物体合并的目录，研究黑洞特性的测量，查看图形和绘图，收听转换为音频文件的数据，以及下载和分析相关的干涉仪数据。该奖项还包括资助举办开放数据研讨会，以培训希望为这一新的天文学领域做出贡献的学生和科学家。大量引力波事件的收集将会引起广泛的科学研究，但前提是不同兴趣的研究人员能够访问和探索相关数据。GWOSC网站上的当前结构只提供了对派生数据产品（例如，源参数）的最小支持，并且不能扩展到数百个事件。展望未来，对引力波科学感兴趣的研究人员可能会大大扩大，包括更多对恒星群、广义相对论、核天体物理学和其他领域感兴趣的人。除了GWOSC已经拥有的引力波应变数据外，这些人中的许多人将对衍生数据产品非常感兴趣。开发事件门户将使这些研究人员能够找到和理解他们需要的数据，并使他们能够完成他们的调查。此外，事件门户和开放数据研讨会都将使更多的研究人员更容易接触到引力波科学。由于参与这门科学所需的专业知识较少，因此事件门户将“降低进入该领域的门槛”，并使更多不同群体的科学家和学生能够从GW观测中受益。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 relativity and relativistic astrophysics and it addresses the priority areas of NSF's "Windows on the Universe" Big Idea. Gravitational-wave astronomy is one of the most rapidly evolving fields in astrophysics. Over the past few years, the interferometer gravitational-wave observatories LIGO and Virgo have begun to record compact object mergers of black holes and neutron stars for the first time. These discoveries are having a tremendous impact on our ability to study the population of black holes in our universe, learn about fundamental particle physics through study of the dense interiors of neutron stars, test general relativity as never before, and investigate a range of other topics. Data from these cutting edge instruments are made available to the scientific community and the public through the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center (GWOSC) at gw-openscience.org. As LIGO and Virgo become more sensitive, the rate of discoveries is quickly accelerating. Starting in 2015, the number of observed compact object mergers has grown from 1, to 10, to 50. During the last observing run, LIGO and Virgo were observing mergers of black holes or neutron stars about once per week, and future upgrades are expected to make this rate grow. As we begin to record hundreds or thousands of these astrophysical events, the scientific community will need a new set of tools to access and analyze the information associated with these discoveries. This project will fund the construction of a new “event portal”, which will allow scientists, teachers, students, and enthusiasts around the world to browse catalogs of compact object mergers, study measurements of black hole properties, view graphics and plots, and listen to data converted to audio files, as well as download and analyze the associated interferometer data. The award also includes funding to host an Open Data Workshop to train students and scientists who wish to contribute to this new field of astronomy.Large collections of gravitational-wave events will invite a wide set of scientific investigations, but only if researchers with diverse interests are able to access and explore the associated data. Current structures on the GWOSC website provide only minimal support for derived data products (e.g., source parameters), and will not scale to hundreds of events. Going forward, the set of researchers interested in gravitational-wave science will likely broaden substantially to include more people interested in stellar populations, general relativity, nuclear astrophysics, and other fields. Many of these same people will be highly interested in derived data products, in addition to the gravitational-wave strain data GWOSC already hosts. Developing the event portal will enable these researchers to find and understand the data they need, and empower them to carry through their investigations. In addition, both the event portal and the Open Data Workshop will make gravitational-wave science more accessible to a wider array of researchers. Because less expertise will be needed to engage with this science, the event portal will “lower-the-bar” for entry into the field, and empower a more diverse group of scientists and students to benefit from GW observations.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.