CAREER: Education and Discovery in Astrophysics with Gravitational Waves

职业：引力波天体物理学的教育和发现

• 批准号: 2146528
• 负责人: Ben Farr
• 金额: $ 40万
• 依托单位: University of Oregon Eugene
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2026-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2146528&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Education; Discovery; Astrophysics; Gravitational

After decades of research and development, the search for gravitational waves has finally succeeded, and their detection has forever changed the field of astronomy. The LIGO and Virgo observatories detected at least one binary neutron star merger and ten binary black hole mergers by the end of their second observing run, and well over 50 more compact binary mergers in their third observing run. While these detections have already validated the theory of general relativity at new extremes, enabled novel cosmological measurements, and greatly advanced our understanding of compact objects, we have only scratched the surface of what these detectors will teach us. This project seeks to develop scalable models capable of extracting new physical insights from these observations as the compact binary catalog continues to grow, and to leverage the exciting science underpinning gravitational wave astronomy to build project-based activities for K-12 classrooms that tie physics concepts throughout the curriculum to relevant aspects of gravitational wave astronomy. As detector sensitivities improve, not only do the boundaries of the observed compact binary parameter space continue to be pushed, but the observed parameter space continues to be filled in, resolving the distribution of compact binaries with increasing detail and allowing for deeper understanding of the astrophysical mechanisms critical to their formation. With the compact binary catalog approaching one hundred events by the end of the third observing run, and possibly one thousand in the next several years, scalable semi-parametric models will be developed that will form the basis of the next generation of population modeling tools capable of extracting the wealth of information this growing catalog will provide. In parallel a multi-phase approach will be taken to the development of project-based activities for K-12 classrooms. The PI will work with a high school teacher partner to develop the core activities of the project, which will be supported by an annual interactive virtual field trip to LIGO. Subsequently, the PI will facilitate the training of 10 or more area teachers recruited from high-need schools in lesson implementation. Metrics will be developed to assess the effectiveness of the activities, and a panel of external education consultants will be convened to provide additional feedback on the activities' effectiveness.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.

经过几十年的研究和开发，引力波的搜索终于成功了，它们的探测永远改变了天文学领域。 LIGO和Virgo天文台在第二次观测结束时发现了至少一个中子星星合并和十个黑洞合并，在第三次观测中发现了超过50个更紧凑的双星合并。虽然这些探测已经在新的极端验证了广义相对论，使新的宇宙学测量成为可能，并极大地推进了我们对紧凑物体的理解，但我们只是触及了这些探测器将教给我们的东西的表面。 该项目旨在开发可扩展的模型，能够从这些观测中提取新的物理见解，因为紧凑的二进制目录继续增长，并利用令人兴奋的科学支撑引力波天文学为K-12教室建立基于项目的活动，将物理概念贯穿整个课程到引力波天文学的相关方面。随着探测器灵敏度的提高，不仅观测到的致密双星参数空间的边界继续被推，而且观测到的参数空间继续被填充，以越来越多的细节解决致密双星的分布，并允许更深入地了解对其形成至关重要的天体物理机制。 随着紧凑的二进制目录接近100个事件的第三次观测运行结束时，并可能在未来几年内一千个，可扩展的半参数模型将被开发，这将成为下一代人口建模工具的基础，能够提取丰富的信息，这个不断增长的目录将提供。 与此同时，将采取多阶段方法为K-12教室开发基于项目的活动。 PI将与高中教师合作伙伴合作开发该项目的核心活动，并将得到每年一次的LIGO互动虚拟实地考察的支持。 随后，PI将促进对从高需求学校招聘的10名或更多地区教师进行课程实施方面的培训。该奖项反映了NSF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。

项目成果

Cover Your Basis: Comprehensive Data-driven Characterization of the Binary Black Hole Population

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/acb5ed
• 发表时间: 2022-10
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: B. Edelman;B. Farr;Zoheyr Doctor

Things That Might Go Bump in the Night: Assessing Structure in the Binary Black Hole Mass Spectrum

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aced02
• 发表时间: 2023-01
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: Amanda M. Farah;B. Edelman;M. Zevin;M. Fishbach;Jose María Ezquiaga;B. Farr;D. Holz

Population of Merging Compact Binaries Inferred Using Gravitational Waves through GWTC-3

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevx.13.011048
• 发表时间: 2021-11
• 期刊: Physical Review X
• 影响因子: 12.5
• 作者: The Ligo Scientific Collaboration;The Virgo Collaboration;T. Abbott;T. Abbott;F. Acernese;K. Ackley

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough: Semiparametric Modeling of LIGO–Virgo’s Binary Black Hole Mass Distribution

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac3667
• 发表时间: 2021-09
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: B. Edelman;Zoheyr Doctor;J. Godfrey;B. Farr

The population of merging compact binaries inferred using gravitational waves through GWTC-3 - Data release

通过 GWTC-3 使用引力波推断的合并致密双星数量 - 数据发布

• DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5650061
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Zenodo
• 作者: Scientific, LIGO Collaboration