CAREER: Probing Astrophysics Frontiers With Gravitational Wave Bursts

这项职业奖将集中在探测LIGO数据中的引力波的方法，特别是引力波爆发(GWB)，这是一种具有广泛可能的天体物理源的瞬时信号。GWB探测是在对信号源和信号形态的最小假设下进行的：这提供了有趣的偶然发现的可能性，但也带来了解释未建模的结果和提取其科学知识的挑战。国际和平研究所将在过去经验的基础上，建立一个强有力的全球地球观测科学计划，该计划包括两个组成部分，都适时地用于LIGO。1)增强型LIGO中的GWB科学。PI的小组将在快速分析增强型LIGO数据(2009-2010年间收集)以及实现对潜在GWB检测的高度信心、了解和抑制构成LIGO最终灵敏度极限的噪声瞬变率方面发挥领导作用。这项工作将从分析中向探测器专家提供意见，并在找不到或无法修复噪声源时设计软件补救措施。2)利用GWBS为高级LIGO和引力波天文学做准备。从长远来看，该小组将与数值相对论和震源建模专家合作，实施GWB探测的参数估计和解释技术，以最大限度地提高从高级LIGO开始(大约在2014年)的科学产出。此外，该小组还将参与电磁和中微子对应物的多信使观测。引力波是一个新的科学前沿。广义相对论预测的时空结构中的这些微小涟漪，携带着我们宇宙中最灾难性和最神秘的事件的信息：恒星的诞生和死亡、黑洞的碰撞和大爆炸。随着LIGO朝着其高级配置稳步发展，并对探测的期待，引力波科学家、数值相对论者和天体物理学家正在联合起来，准备迎接引力波天文学的新时代：多学科方法是引力波计划成功的关键。研究生培训是这项提议的重要组成部分，涉及三个方面。在接下来的五年里，PI将：(1)在她所在的小组中监督活跃在LIGO核心科学领域的研究生，并作为LIGO科学协作(LSC)的任务负责人；(2)在LIGO学术咨询委员会(她是LIGO学术咨询委员会成员)的支持下，建立一个导师计划，支持整个LSC的研究生的科学和专业发展；(3)为加州大学麻省理工学院的研究生和天体物理和粒子物理方面的高级本科生设计一门关于数据分析技术入门的新课程。对于更广泛的外展，这一外展还将支持部署一个关于超新星、黑洞和引力波的项目，并提供讲座和动手活动。这将在UMassSTEM活动中增加一个天体物理学部分，如课外STEM-Ray和周六教师研讨会系列。该计划将被带到马萨诸塞州西部的K-12教室和女童子军，以鼓励女孩对科学的兴趣。学生和博士后将参与这次外展的准备和交付，以获得相互学习的经验。

This CAREER award will focus on methods for detecting gravitational waves in LIGO data especially gravitational wave bursts (GWBs), transient signals with a broad range of possible astrophysical sources. GWB detection is pursued with minimal assumptions on the source and the signal morphology: this offers the intriguing possibility of serendipitous discoveries, but also the challenges of interpreting an unmodeled result and extracting its science. The PI will build on past experience to establish a robust program in GWB science, with two components, both timely for LIGO. 1) GWB Science in Enhanced LIGO. The PI's group will have a lead role in the prompt analysis of Enhanced LIGO data (collected during 2009-2010) and in the achievement of high confidence in a potential GWB detection, understanding and suppressing the rate of noise transients that constitute the ultimate sensitivity limit for LIGO. This effort will provide input from the analysis to detector experts and devise software remedies when noise sources cannot be found or fixed. 2) Preparing for Advanced LIGO and gravitational wave astronomy with GWBs. In the longer term, the group will implement techniques of parameter estimation and interpretation of GWB detections, in collaboration with numerical relativity and source modeling experts, to maximize the science output from the start of Advanced LIGO (in approximately 2014). In addition, the group will participate in multi-messenger observations with electromagnetic and neutrino counterparts. Gravitational waves are a new science frontier. These tiny ripples in the fabric of spacetime, predicted by the Theory of General Relativity, carry information from the most catastrophic and mysterious events in our universe: the birth and death of a star, the collision of black holes and the Big Bang. As LIGO makes steady progress towards its Advanced configuration, and in the anticipation of detection, gravitational wave scientists, numerical relativists and astrophysicists are joining forces and preparing for a new era of gravitational wave astronomy: a multi-disciplinary approach is crucial for the success of the gravitational wave program. Graduate student training is integrant part of this proposal, on three fronts. In the next five years the PI will: (1) supervise graduate students, active in LIGO core science, in her group and as task leader in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC); (2) establish a mentoring program to support scientific and professional development of graduate students across the LSC, with the support of the LIGO Academic Advisory Council, of which she is member; (3) design a new course on introductory data analysis techniques for UMass graduate students and advanced undergraduates in astrophysics and particle physics. For a broader outreach, this outreach will also support the deployment of a program on supernovae, black holes and gravitational waves, with lectures and hands-on activities. This will add an astrophysics component to UMass STEM activities like the after-school STEM-RAY and the Saturday Seminar series for teachers. The program will be brought to K-12 classrooms and girl scout troops in Western Massachusetts, to encourage the interest of girls in science. Students and postdocs will be engaged in the preparation and delivery of this outreach, for a mutual learning experience.