Collaborative Research: Modeling Advanced LIGO Gravitational Wave Sources and Their Electromagnetic Counterparts

该奖项将支持对各种致密天体（如中子星）合并的多方面理论研究。了解这些合并事件的完整顺序是当前高度关注的一个巨大的跨学科挑战。这项工作将模拟双星的形成和引力波驱动的灵感；合并的流体力学；合并后残余物的粘、热、核演化；坍缩到中子星和黑洞的广义相对论辐射流体动力学（及其相关的引力波信号）；以及产生可观察到的电磁（光、无线电波等）信号的非束缚抛射物的核和辐射流体动力学。一个主要的动机是模拟这些合并的重力波和电磁特征。这两种类型的签名提供了有关信号源不同区域的重要信息。引力波将决定源的“引擎”、质量、自旋和倾角。电磁信号将提供精确的位置、组成，以及它们与其他天体物理学（核合成、脉冲星、磁星、瞬变、Ia型超新星、形成率和祖星）的关系。该项目将有助于培养研究生，并促进参与院校之间的定期学生交流。研究小组成员将继续为公众、高中和大学院校举办非技术讲座，并就课程、电影、电视和广播提供咨询。这项研究的结果，往往会产生广泛的兴趣（恒星碰撞，爆炸，坍缩到黑洞，时空引力波），将纳入这些活动。该团队还将把这项研究的结果广泛地提供给天体物理学界。

This award will support a multifaceted theoretical study of the mergers of various types of compact objects such as neutron stars. Understanding the full sequence of events in these mergers is a great interdisciplinary challenge of high current interest. The work will model binary formation and gravitational wave-driven inspiral; the hydrodynamics of mergers; the viscous, thermal and nuclear evolution of the post merger remnant; the general relativistic radiation hydrodynamics of the collapse to neutron stars and black holes (with its associated gravitational wave signals); and the nuclear and radiation hydrodynamics of the unbound ejecta that produces observable electromagnetic (light, radio wave, etc.) signals. A major motivation is to model both gravity wave and electromagnetic signatures from these mergers. The two types of signatures provide important information about different regions of the sources. Gravitational waves will determine the 'engine' of the sources, their masses, spins, and inclinations. The electromagnetic signals will provide the precise locations, compositions, and their relation to the rest of astrophysics (nucleosynthesis, pulsars, magnetars, transients, Type Ia supernovae, formation rates and progenitors). The project will contribute to the training of graduate students and in regular student exchanges between the participating institutions. Members of the research team will continue their efforts to give non-technical lectures for the public, high schools and undergraduate institutions, and consult on curricula, films, TV and radio. The results of this research, on topics that tend to generate broad interest (stellar collisions, explosions, collapse to black holes, gravitational waves in space-time), will be incorporated into these activities. The team will also make the results from this study widely available to the astrophysics community.