Dynamics of compact binary systems in strong gravitational fields

该提案分为两大流派。第一条与潮汐环境中黑洞的物理有关。当一个黑洞不是孤立的，而是被置于施加潮汐作用力的其他物体的存在时，它会发生什么？要回答这个问题，需要描述潮汐环境，计算外部天体造成的重力扰动，并提取物理上的、可测量的后果。其中最令人兴奋的结果之一是测量引力波中潮汐耦合效应的前景，这种测量将使黑洞在观测上有别于其他类型的致密天体。我在2004年发起了这项调查，我建议在下一个批准周期中从许多不同的方向进行扩展。

The proposal is divided into two broad streams. The first stream is concerned with the physics of black holes in tidal environments. What happens to a black hole when it is not isolated, but placed in the presence of other bodies which exert tidal forces on it? To answer this question requires a description of the tidal environment, a computation of the gravitational perturbation created by the external bodies, and the extraction of physical, measurable consequences. Among the most exciting of those consequences is the prospect of measuring the effect of the tidal coupling in gravitational waves, a measurement that would allow a black hole to be observationally distinguished from other types of compact bodies. I have initiated this line of investigation in 2004, and I propose to extend it in many different directions during the next granting cycle.