Gravitational Wave Data Analysis: Parameter Inference and Black Hole Ringdown

这个研究项目致力于引力波的分析和建模。当宇宙中密度最大的物体（如黑洞和中子星）绕轨道运行并发生碰撞时，就会在空间和时间结构中产生这些涟漪。由美国国家科学基金会资助的LIGO和欧洲处女座合作项目对引力波的探测，为研究宇宙打开了一扇新的窗口，揭示了以前看不见的事件，比如黑洞成对合并。该奖项支持的研究人员将作为LIGO合作项目的成员参与对引力波的分析，帮助推断这些涟漪来源的性质。除了这些对天体物理学、宇宙学和核物理学有深远影响的合作活动外，研究小组还将利用引力波数据搜索新的物理学。对引力波的探测提供了时空最动态的信息，允许对相对论进行强场测试，因为有可能探测到极其紧凑的物体，否则这些物体在电磁观测中是看不见的。这一奖项将使人们能够搜索来自新的、假设的致密恒星的引力波，并研究如何利用合并黑洞的最终“环化”来搜索新的物理学。这些研究活动将为研究生提供建模和数据分析方面的培训，这些技能对社会有很大的需求和很大的好处。此外，该小组的成员将参与外展活动，以教育和激励公众了解这一新的物理和天文学领域。特别是，该项目通过对LIGO科学合作组织下一次观测活动中的探测进行贝叶斯参数估计，重点支持LIGO科学合作组织。PI和小组其他成员将参与参数估计管道的应用，对低延迟的检测进行推断，并帮助规划和执行更长的时间尺度的综合参数分析。这些推论是使用引力波来理解致密物体的种群、从双中子星的观测推断核状态方程、检验相对论以及使用引力波来测量宇宙膨胀的关键的第一步。该项目还将涉及使用尖端模型时参数估计的系统误差的调查，这些模型表现出复杂的参数退化。该团队还将使用借鉴量子力学摄动理论的方法来预测旋转黑洞的环衰谱上可能出现的相对论偏差。这些预测可以在未来与贝叶斯参数估计一起使用，以约束或测量这些模型的潜在参数，这些模型使用来自双黑洞合并的铃响信号。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 research project is devoted to the analysis and modeling of gravitational waves. These ripples in the fabric of space and time are produced when the densest objects in the Universe -- such as black holes and neutron stars -- orbit and collide. The detection of gravitational waves by the NSF-funded LIGO and European Virgo collaborations has opened up a new window on the Universe, revealing previously invisible events like pairs of black holes merging. Researchers supported by this award will participate in the analysis of gravitational waves as members of the LIGO collaboration, helping to infer the properties of the sources of these ripples. In addition to these collaboration activities, which have far-reaching impacts on astrophysics, cosmology, and nuclear physics, the research group will carry out searches for new physics using gravitational-wave data. Detections of gravitational waves provide information about spacetime at its most dynamic, allowing for strong-field tests of relativity, as the possibility of detecting extremely compact objects which are otherwise invisible to electromagnetic observations. This award will enable both searches for gravitational waves from new, hypothetical compact stars, and study how the final "ringdown" of merged black holes can be used to search for new physics. These research activities will provide training for graduate students in modeling and data analysis, skillsets which are in great demand and of great benefit to society. In addition, members of the group will engage in outreach activities in order to educate and inspire the public about this new field of physics and astronomy.In particular, this project focuses supporting the LIGO Scientific Collaboration by performing Bayesian parameter estimation on detections made in the collaboration's next observing campaign. The PI and other members of the group will participate in the application of parameter estimation pipelines, carrying out inferences on detections made in low latency and helping to plan and execute comprehensive parameter analysis on longer timescales. These inferences are a crucial first step in the use of gravitational waves for understanding the populations of compact objects, inferring the nuclear equation of state from observations of binary neutron stars, testing the theory of relativity, and using gravitational waves to measure cosmic expansion. This project will also involve the investigation of systematic errors in parameter estimation when using cutting edge models, which exhibit complicated parameter degeneracies. The team will also use methods borrowed from quantum mechanical perturbation theory to predict how possible deviations from relativity are imprinted on the ringdown spectrum of spinning black holes. These predictions can be used in the future with Bayesian parameter estimation to constrain or measure the underlying parameters of these models using ringdown signals from binary black hole mergers.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.