Strengthening the Gravitational-Wave Event Portal

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”大理念的优先领域。引力波天文学是天体物理学中发展最快的领域之一。在过去的八年里，NSF的LIGO和意大利的Virgo已经开始首次记录黑洞和中子星的紧凑物体合并。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，并研究一系列其他主题。来自这些尖端仪器的数据通过引力波开放科学中心（GWOSC）提供给科学界和公众。随着LIGO和Virgo变得更加敏感，发现的速度正在迅速加快。从2015年开始，观测到的紧凑型天体合并的数量从1个增加到10个，再到90个。在上一次观测运行期间，LIGO和Virgo每周大约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GWOSC事件门户的增强，该门户允许世界各地的科学家，教师，学生和爱好者浏览紧凑对象合并的目录，查看绘图并发现相关数据。该奖项还包括资助举办两次开放数据研讨会，以培训希望为天文学这一新领域做出贡献的学生和科学家。该奖项支持两项活动，以扩大公众对引力波（GW）数据的访问。第一个项目是从三个方面发展和增强引力波事件门户网站：（i）数据库将增长到包括数百个预期在即将到来的观测运行中检测到的事件;（ii）事件门户网站的结构将扩大到包括LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA合作之外的团体发现的事件;以及（iii）事件门户网站将变得更具互动性，具有新的绘图功能。作为第二个项目，该奖项将在提案的第一年和第三年支持两个引力波开放数据研讨会。这些创新的研讨会聚集了成千上万的研究人员谁是新的引力波数据分析与“动手”介绍该领域的方法。研讨会以专家分析师编写的软件教程为中心，专家分析师也参加研讨会以提供指导。每次研讨会结束后，软件教程和视频讲座都会发布到免费的在线课程中，为成千上万的学生创造机会，让他们在全年的任何时间学习引力波数据分析。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。

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 eight years, NSF's LIGO and Italy'sVirgo 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 gwosc.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 90. 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 enhancements to the GWOSC Event Portal, which allows scientists, teachers, students, and enthusiasts around the world to browse catalogs of compact object mergers, view plots, and discover associated data. The award also includes funding to host two Open Data Workshops to train students and scientists who wish to contribute to this new field of astronomy.This award supports two activities that will expand public access to gravitational-wave (GW) data. The first project is to grow and enhance the gravitational-wave Event Portal in three ways: (i) the database will grow to include the hundreds of events expected for detection in up-coming observing runs; (ii) the Event Portal structure will be broadened to include events discovered by groups outside the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA collaboration; and (iii), the Event Portal will become more interactive with new plotting features. As the second project, this award will support two Gravitational Wave Open Data Workshops in the first and third years of the proposal. These innovative workshops gather thousands of researchers who are new to gravitational-wave data analysis with a “hands-on” introduction to the methods of the field. The workshops center on software tutorials prepared by expert analysts, who also attend the workshop to provide mentoring. Following each workshop, software tutorials and video lectures are posted to a free online course, creating opportunities for thousands of students to learn gravitational-wave data analysis at any time throughout the year.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.