Improving modeling of the LIGO AGN channel

改进 LIGO AGN 通道的建模

• 批准号: 2206096
• 负责人: Desmond Barry McKernan
• 金额: $ 44.64万
• 依托单位: CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2206096&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Improving; modeling; LIGO; AGN; channel

The LIGO, Virgo and Kagra (LVK) gravitational wave (GW) detectors are detecting large numbers of merging compact astrophysical objects (neutron stars and black holes) in our Universe via gravitational wave observations. An important area of investigation is how these pairs of compact objects form, come together and merge within the age of the Universe. Several clues are emerging from LIGO-Virgo GW observations that suggest that active galactic nuclei, where supermassive black holes are fed by disks of hot, bright gas, may be a significant contributor to observed compact object mergers. A research group at the CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College and American Museum of Natural History will rewrite, improve and publicly release to the astronomy community a software package they have developed to study this AGN formation channel. As part of this project, the lead investigators will work with a program called AstroCom NYC, designed to increase diversity in astrophysics research, by involving under-represented minority undergraduate students directly in research as well as encouraging research at minority-serving institutions.Some of the clues linking AGN to compact object mergers include the broken power-law mass distribution of black holes, intermediate mass black hole formation, and asymmetric mass merger events (particularly between black holes and neutron stars). The Monte Carlo code the investigators have developed has made several original predictions about the AGN channel and by publicly releasing it, they will help population modelers in the broader community to test AGN channel priors compared with other channels and move the field towards an understanding of AGN and the embedded objects within them. This will also accelerate model development and LVK populations modelling across the community as LVK O4 (observing run 4) begins. This project advances the goals of the NSF 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.

Ligo，处女座和Kagra（LVK）引力波（GW）检测器正在通过引力波观测检测我们宇宙中大量合并紧凑的天体物理对象（中子恒星和黑洞）。 一个重要的调查领域是如何形成这些紧凑的物体对，并在宇宙时代内合并。 来自Ligo-Virgo GW观测值的一些线索提出，这些观测表明，活跃的银河核，其中超级质量黑洞由热，明亮气体的磁盘喂食，可能是观察到的紧凑型物体合并的重要促进者。 曼哈顿社区学院和美国自然历史博物馆CUNY自治市镇的研究小组将改进，改进并公开释放到天文学社区，他们开发了一个用于研究此AGN组合渠道的软件包。 作为该项目的一部分，首席调查人员将与一个名为“星际NYC”的计划合作，旨在通过直接参与少数族裔本科生参与研究，并鼓励研究少数派服务机构的研究。 （特别是在黑洞和中子星之间）。 调查人员开发的蒙特卡洛守则对AGN渠道做出了几个原始预测，并通过公开释放它，将帮助更广泛的社区中的人群建模者与其他渠道相比测试AGN渠道先验，并将该领域朝着对AGN及其内部嵌入式物体的了解。 随着LVK O4（观察运行4）开始，这也将加速整个社区的模型开发和LVK种群建模。 该项目促进了NSF Windows在宇宙大想法上的目标。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并且使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准，被认为值得通过评估来获得支持。