WoU-MMA: Enabling Multimessenger Astrophysics with Pulsar Timing Arrays

引力波（GW）频谱在频率上跨越了许多数量级，其来源从恒星质量致密天体到遥远星系中心的超大质量双黑洞（SMBBHs）。GW天文学是美国国家科学基金会十大构想（“宇宙之窗”）之一的关键组成部分，该构想旨在结合电磁、GW和中微子观测来研究天体物理现象。脉冲星定时阵列（pta）探测GW频谱的低频部分（f ~ 1−100 nHz），这是地面或天基干涉仪无法到达的。该奖项的目的是支持技术的发展，以检测来自具有PTAs的单个smbbh的gw。该奖项还将支持发展一个天文馆展览，与公众分享PTA的科学，以及为本科生开展的GW活动，作为天体物理学研究的介绍。该合同将支持针对单个smbbh的鲁棒频率检测技术的开发，这将补充现有的贝叶斯方法。该小组还将研究如何优化pta来检测单个smbbh的GWs。这些进展将提高利用PTAs探测单个SMBBHs发出的gw的能力，并使SMBBHs的多信使天体物理学成为可能。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。

The gravitational wave (GW) spectrum spans many orders of magnitude in frequency, with sources ranging from stellar-mass compact objects to supermassive binary black holes (SMBBHs) at the centers of distant galaxies. GW astronomy is a key component of one of NSF’s 10 big ideas (“windows on the Universe”), which aims to combine electromagnetic, GW, and neutrino observations to study astrophysical phenomena. Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) probe the low-frequency portion of the GW spectrum (f ∼ 1 − 100 nHz), which is inaccessible to either ground-based or space-based interferometers. The purpose of this award is to support the development of techniques to detect GWs from individual SMBBHs with PTAs. . This award will also support the development of a planetarium show to share PTA science with the public, and a GW activity for undergraduate students that will act as an introduction to astrophysics research.This award will support the development of robust frequentist detection techniques for individual SMBBHs, which will complement existing Bayesian methods. The group will also investigate ways of optimizing PTAs to detect GWs from individual SMBBHs. These advances will improve the ability to detect GWs from individual SMBBHs with PTAs and enable multi-messenger astrophysics of SMBBHs.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.