RUI: Parameter Estimation, Data Analysis, and Detector Characterization for LIGO

激光干涉仪引力波天文台（LIGO）对引力波的观测将是一项巨大的科学成就，但通过这笔拨款提供的资源将创造许多其他积极的机会。卡尔顿学院在培养未来科学家方面处于领先地位。该项目将为对物理和统计学感兴趣的学生提供研究机会，帮助他们成为下一代科学家。卡尔顿的学生渴望参与令人兴奋的研究，他们对引力波天文学和一般科学的兴趣很大。由于这个项目而发展起来的计算统计方法已经并将继续对其他科学领域产生重大影响：天体物理学、混沌研究和空间引力波探测器。该项目还将继续提供改善大学教学水平的材料；将受益于本项目所涵盖的科学的学科包括光学、广义相对论和统计学。这个项目也为科学推广创造了机会；高中学生和高中教师将继续接触到LIGO研究的奇迹和意义，这种延伸为科学和物理创造了许多兴奋。最后，本项目的研究工作促进了国际科学合作。阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦在1916年预言了引力波的存在；一个世纪后，我们将真正观测到引力波，因此，科学和教育的利益将是巨大的。LIGO观测到的事件将产生丰富的天体物理信息，这些信息的提取将需要先进的数据分析、参数估计和统计技术。探测器表征工作将为科学家提供对数据质量和探测器性能的信心。卡尔顿学院将继续在识别和表征LIGO数据中的噪声方面做出重大努力；这些信息将反馈给干涉仪操作员，以提高探测器的性能。卡尔顿和他的同事们正在研究如何消除在LIGO-Virgo探测器网络中相干的舒曼共振中的磁场噪声。卡尔顿将使用LIGO的数据来观测宇宙产生的随机引力波背景。卡尔顿将通过关联来自两个探测器的数据，并使用模式识别技术寻找信号，为探测长时间引力波做出贡献。卡尔顿团队将开发贝叶斯参数估计方法，以提取与核心坍缩超新星产生的引力波信号相关的物理参数。

The observation of gravitational waves by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) will be a tremendous scientific accomplishment, but the resources provided through this grant will create many other positive opportunities. Carleton College is a leader in producing future scientists. This project will provide research opportunities to students with interests in physics and statistics, and help train them to become the next generation of scientists. Carleton students are eager to participate in exciting research, and their interest in gravitational wave astronomy, and science in general, is large. The computational statistical methods developed as a consequence of this project have, and will continue to have significant influence in other scientific fields: astrophysics, chaos studies, and gravitational wave detectors in space. The project will also continue to provide material that will improve teaching at the college level; subjects that will benefit from the science covered in this project include optics, general relativity, and statistics. This project also creates opportunities for scientific outreach; high school students and high school teachers will continue to be exposed to the wonder and significance of LIGO's research, and this outreach creates much excitement for science and physics. Finally, the research work of this project promotes international scientific collaboration. Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916; a century later we should actually observe gravitational waves, and consequently the scientific and educational benefit will be tremendous.Events seen by LIGO will produce a wealth of astrophysical information, the extraction of which will require advanced techniques in data analysis, parameter estimation, and statistics. Detector characterization work will provide scientists with confidence in the quality of the data, and the performance of the detectors. Carleton College will continue with its significant efforts in identifying and characterizing noise in LIGO data; this information will be fed back to the interferometer operators in order to improve the detector performance. Carleton and colleagues are researching how to eliminate magnetic field noise from the Schumann resonances that is coherent in the LIGO-Virgo detector network. Carleton will use LIGO data to observe a cosmologically produced stochastic gravitational wave background. Carleton will contribute to the effort to detect long duration gravitational waves by correlating data from two detectors, and using pattern recognition techniques to look for signals. The Carleton team will develop Bayesian parameter estimation methods to extract physical parameters associated with core collapse supernova produced gravitational wave signals.