Gravitation Physics and Relativistic Astrophysics

该奖项资助了相对论天体物理学和广义相对论中几个不同主题的理论研究，重点是激光干涉仪引力波天文台（LIGO）和拟议的空间探测器激光干涉仪空间天线（LISA）可能探测到的引力辐射源。主要议题有：(i)计算点粒子注入旋转黑洞的引力波的方法的发展；（ii）发展用于研究具有相对论引力场的物体潮汐相互作用的理论工具；（三）在膜和额外维度理论中对黑洞性质的探索；（iv）计算各种替代引力理论的实验和理论约束，这些理论已被提出作为宇宙加速模型。引力波计算方法的发展最终将对引力波天文学产生重大影响，通过促进引力波信号的检测和分析，我们可以从中了解黑洞的性质。研究生和本科生的教育和培训将纳入研究计划。

This award funds theoretical research in several different topics in relativistic astrophysics and general relativity, with a focus on sources of gravitational radiation that might be detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) and by the proposed space based detector, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The principal topics are: (i) the development of methods to compute the gravitational waveforms from point particles inspiralling into spinning black holes; (ii) the development of theoretical tools for studying tidal interactions of objects with relativistic gravitational fields; (iii) the exploration of properties of black holes in theories with branes and extra dimensions; and (iv) the computation of experimental and theoretical constraints on various alternative theories of gravity that have been proposed as models of the Universe's acceleration.The work on development of computational methods for gravitational waveforms will eventually have a significant impact on gravitational wave astronomy, by facilitating the detection and analysis of gravitational wave signals, from which we can learn about properties of black holes. Education and training of graduate and undergraduate students will be integrated into the research program.