Studies of Large Mass-Ratio Black Hole Binaries Using Time-Domain Perturbation Theory

引力波天文学领域刚刚经历了一个重大的转变，这是由于最近的一个突破-美国路易斯安那州和华盛顿的LIGO探测器首次发现黑洞双星系统的引力波。这些波是爱因斯坦本人在世纪前预言的，以前从未被直接观测到。即将到来的对类似双星系统中这些波的观测将用于获得有关宇宙中奇异天体的额外信息，如黑洞，中子星等。LIGO还产生了重要的副产品技术，并吸引了公众和青年对STEM学科的关注。该研究项目有助于发展在LIGO使命中起着非常关键作用的基于理论的科学。主要目标是利用理论和计算技术来理解黑洞系统的重要方面。该项目包括对学生的支持，因此直接有助于学生在一个重要的STEM领域的指导，培训和保留。学生发展的计算技能是高度“便携”的，因此将使他们能够获得各种职业选择，包括在国家需求很大的领域。公众参与者以前的研究项目已经在普通媒体上进行了讨论，这项工作也有很大的潜力成功地向公众推广。该研究项目将有助于解决引力物理领域的一些具有挑战性的重要问题。主要目标是利用点粒子微扰理论建立一个大质量比黑洞双星系统引力波发射的时域计算模型并将其应用于实际。将为有效单体模型和其他引力波形生成模型的开发做出重大贡献，这将对当前和未来探测器（如LIGO和未来的空间飞行任务）的数据分析产生积极影响。此外，计划中的工作将带来更好地了解的暴跌阶段辐射和准正常振铃的背景下，衰变黑洞的二元系统。该项目还将通过公开的Einstein@Home项目为引力波数据分析工作做出贡献。该项目背景下的所有研究活动都将涉及学生以及与其他美国和国际团体的合作。

The field of gravitational wave astronomy has just experienced a major transformation as a result of a recent breakthrough - the first ever discovery of gravitational waves from a black hole binary system by the US LIGO detectors in Louisiana and Washington. These waves were predicted by Einstein himself a century ago, and had never been directly observed before. Upcoming observations of these waves from similar binary systems will be used to obtain additional information about exotic astrophysical objects in the Universe like black holes, neutron stars, and others. LIGO has also generated significant spin-off technologies, and drawn public and youth attention towards STEM disciplines. This research project aids in the development of the theory-based science that plays a very critical role in LIGO's mission. The main objective is to understand important aspects of black hole systems using theoretical and computational techniques. The project includes support for students and therefore directly contributes to student mentorship, traineeship and retention in an important STEM area. The computational skills that students develop are highly "portable", and therefore will allow them access to a variety of career options, including in areas of great national need. Previous research projects by the PI have been discussed in the general media, and this work also has great potential at being successful for outreach to the general public. This research project will contribute to a number of challenging and important problems in the area of gravitational physics. The main objective is the development and application of a time-domain computational model for the gravitational wave emission from a large mass-ratio black hole binary system using point-particle perturbation theory. Significant contributions will be made to the development of effective-one-body and other models for gravitational waveform generation, that will positively impact the data analysis of current and future detectors (such as LIGO and future space-borne missions). In addition, the planned work will bring about a much better understanding of the plunge phase radiation and quasi-normal ringing in the context of decaying black hole binary systems. The project will also contribute to the gravitational wave data-analysis effort via the open and public Einstein@Home project. All the research activities in the context of this project will involve students and collaborations with other US and international groups.