Collaborative Research: Breaking Barriers in Multi-messenger Astrophysics: The RITTU Partnership

罗切斯特理工学院(RIT)和德克萨斯理工大学(TTU)将建立一个新的天文学研究和教育合作伙伴关系，目的是探索如何打破学科和文化界限，解决中子星天体物理学中的关键问题。RIT拥有国家聋人技术学院，这是世界上最好的聋人教育机构之一，TTU是一个西班牙裔服务机构。这个为期两年的项目将探索聋人/听力障碍和西班牙裔本科生加入RITTU伙伴关系并参与学年准备项目和暑期研究体验的真实途径。学生们将获得一套介于理论和观测之间的技能，并将得到一个专门的指导团队的支持，从而使他们在研究生课程或其他STEM职业生涯中处于竞争地位。未来几年将预示着中子星天体物理学的黄金时代。中子星是致密恒星天体，通常是脉冲星的代名词，是大质量恒星演化的终极阶段之一。中子星和双中子星的合并可以通过多个信使观察到：引力波(GW)、电磁辐射和潜在的中微子--这为回答天体物理学的基本问题提供了无与伦比的机会。该计划将涉及两项相互关联的研究。双中子星合并的研究将揭示宇宙中最重元素的形成机制，探索最强大的天体物理喷流的产生和结构，并阐明大规模恒星演化的残余族特征。在中子星天体物理学的主题中，该团队将开发新的工具来阐明脉冲星故障，并使用脉冲星计时观测来指导对爆发和连续GW的搜索。这一奖项推进了宇宙之窗大理想的目标。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A new research and education partnership in astronomy will be developed between the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Texas Tech University (TTU) with the aim of exploring how to break both disciplinary and cultural boundaries to solve key questions in neutron-star astrophysics. RIT hosts the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, one of the premier deaf education institutes in the world and TTU is a Hispanic Serving Institution. The two-year program will explore authentic pathways for Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing and Hispanic undergraduate students to join the RITTU partnership and participate in academic year preparation programs and summer research experiences. The students will acquire a set of skills that cross between theory and observations and will be supported by a dedicated mentoring team, thereby placing them in competitive positions for graduate programs or other STEM careers.The next few years will herald a golden age for the astrophysics of neutron stars, which are compact stellar objects, often synonymous with pulsars, and which are one of the end stages of massive star evolution. Neutron stars and mergers of binary neutron stars can be observed through multiple messengers: gravitational waves (GWs), electromagnetic radiation and potentially neutrinos—offering unparalleled opportunities to answer fundamental questions in astrophysics. The program will involve two inter-related studies. The study of binary neutron star mergers will reveal the formation mechanism of the Universe’s heaviest elements, probe the generation and structure of the most powerful astrophysical jets, and elucidate the characteristics of the remnant population of massive stellar evolution. In the topic of neutron star astrophysics, the team will develop new tools to shed light on pulsar glitches and use pulsar timing observations to guide searches for burst and continuous GWs. This award advances the goals of the 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.