MRI: Development of Telescope Arrays to Image the Optical Counterparts of Mergers within Two Seconds of Gravitational-Wave Detection and Observe Supernovae at the Time of Explosion

一对黑洞或中子星的合并会产生引力波。导致爆炸的合并也会发出光，这传达了关于产生的重元素的信息。自2015年以来，天文学家已经记录了50次合并产生的引力波。然而，只有一次合并带来的可见光被明确指出。该项目将在新墨西哥州和希腊开发望远镜，可以在警报发出后两秒钟内拍摄大片天空的图像。通过比现有设施更快的搜索速度，望远镜将识别天空中新的、明亮的来源，并获得早期数据。该项目还将监测附近星系中非常年轻的超新星。来自明尼苏达州和新墨西哥州的本科生以及公民科学家将参与其中。计划在工作的各个方面纳入未被充分代表的少数族裔，特别是美洲原住民和拉美裔人，以提供适合未来学术或私营行业职业的广泛培训。在每个地点，全面覆盖的对二元合并的超快响应天文台(Turbo)将由安装在16个0.20米直径光学望远镜上的大尺寸CMOS探测器组成。在触发警报的两秒钟内，Turbo将开始获得高达240平方度的连续多波段图像。位于明尼苏达州圣保罗市的一台望远镜样机已经投入使用，它可以在警报发出后两秒钟内获取图像。与引力波合并探测相对应的是，通过揭示合并的距离、环境和核合成产品，仅通过引力波就可以获得成倍的信息。考虑到其对快速排放的独特敏感性，涡轮增压可能会探测到新类型的对应物，从而产生潜在的洞察，例如，对鲜为人知的双星黑洞合并的观察群体。在爆炸时(每年4-6次)观测附近星系中的超新星，有望提供对它们的恒星前身群体和爆炸机制的新理解。计划将大量本科生纳入研究项目，并在数据分析中使用ZooReverse。该项目推进了宇宙之窗的目标。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The merger of a pair of black holes or neutron stars creates gravitational waves. Mergers that lead to explosions also emit light, which conveys information about the heavy elements that are created. Since 2015, astronomers have recorded the gravitational waves from fifty mergers. However, visible light from only a single merger has been clearly pinpointed. This project will develop telescopes in New Mexico and Greece that can image a large region of the sky within just two seconds of an alert. By searching more quickly than existing facilities can do, the telescopes will identify new, brightening sources on the sky and obtain early data. The project will also monitor nearby galaxies for very young supernovae. Undergraduates from Minnesota and New Mexico as well as citizen scientists will participate. The inclusion of underrepresented minorities, notably Native Americans and Hispanics, is planned in various aspects of the work that will provide broad training suitable for future academic or private industry careers.At each site, the Total-Coverage Ultra-Fast Response to Binary Mergers Observatory (TURBO) will consist of large-format CMOS detectors mounted on sixteen 0.20-meter diameter optical telescopes. Within two seconds of a trigger alert, TURBO will begin obtaining continuous, multi-band images of up to 240 square degrees. A prototype telescope in St. Paul, Minnesota has been implemented that can acquire images within two seconds of an alert. Counterparts to gravitational-wave detections of mergers will multiply the information available from just the gravitational waves alone by revealing the mergers’ distances, environments, and nucleosynthetic products. Given its unique sensitivity to prompt emission, TURBO may detect novel types of counterparts, yielding potential insights, for example, into the poorly understood observed population of binary black-hole mergers. Observations of supernovae in nearby galaxies at the time of explosion (4-6 events each year) can be expected to provide new understanding of their stellar progenitor populations and explosion mechanisms. The opportunity to included numerous undergraduate students in research projects and the use of Zooinverse in analysis of the data is planned.This project advances the goals of the Windows on the Universe Big Idea.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.