LIGO Laboratory Operations and Maintenance 2019-2023

激光干涉引力波天文台（LIGO）的研究人员试图观察和理解引力波。引力波（GWs）是当质量突然移动时产生的空间和时间振荡。它们可以携带有关宇宙灾难的信息，例如黑洞和中子星的碰撞。自2015年以来，LIGO已经观测到了六次GW事件，揭示了这些位于数千万或数亿光年之外的奇异物体的全新信息。该奖项将使LIGO能够搜索更多的GW信号，并改善LIGO？LIGO的灵敏度使它能够观测到更遥远的灾难。的首要引力波天文台。它是一个新兴的全球类似探测器网络的关键部分。这些系统目前正在意大利、日本和印度运行或开发中。LIGO和光学、无线电和X射线天文台的同步测量开创了多信使天文学的时代，引力波和电磁波的协同探测揭示了关于宇宙的全新和令人兴奋的信息。LIGO？2017年诺贝尔物理学奖授予了LIGO先驱巴里·巴里什、基普·索恩和雷纳·韦斯。这一奖项将促进科学技术人才的发展，推动LIGO相关技术的多学科应用，并将向公众传播LIGO相关科学技术的信息。该奖项将资助现有LIGO设备的运行，以及改进LIGO的设备的设计，测试和运行。的敏感性。这以及相关的研究活动将为LIGO工作人员、博士后和学生以及全球108所与LIGO合作的大学的约1100名研究人员和学生之间的跨学科合作创造持续的机会。 技术部分：高达2.25亿美元的资金将用于继续运行位于汉福德华盛顿和路易斯安那州利文斯顿的LIGO天文台，以及加州理工学院和麻省理工学院的相关科学和工程支持计划，并用于开展传播LIGO信息的教育和公共宣传计划。资金将通过新的当前合作协议（PHY-1764464）提供，期限为2018年10月1日至2023年9月30日。 拟议的努力包括：LIGO站点和干涉仪的维护和操作？调试干涉仪，以提高其灵敏度的GW？进行天体物理数据分析和探测器表征，以区分GW信号和噪声源？进行研究和开发，以提高探测器的灵敏度，使其超过目前的设计性能？LIGO数据的管理及其向更广泛的研究社区的传播？为LIGO提供软件和计算资源，并开发新的计算工具和方法来扩展LIGO？的数据分析能力？该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Researchers at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) seek to observe and understand gravitational waves. Gravitational waves (GWs) are oscillations in space and time that are generated whenever mass moves suddenly. They can carry information about cosmic catastrophes, such as the collisions of black holes and neutron stars. Since 2015, LIGO has observed six GW events, revealing entirely new information about these exotic objects, which are located tens or hundreds of millions of light years away. This award will enable LIGO to search for additional GW signals and to improve LIGO?s sensitivity so that it can observe even more distant cataclysms.LIGO is the world?s premier gravitational wave observatory. It is a key part of an emerging global network of similar detectors. These are now in operation or under development in Italy, Japan, and India. Concurrent measurements by LIGO and optical, radio, and X-ray observatories have inaugurated the era of multi-messenger astronomy, when synergistic detections of gravitational waves and electromagnetic waves reveal entirely new and exciting information about the cosmos. LIGO?s historic GW observations were recognized by the award of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics to LIGO pioneers Barry Barish, Kip Thorne, and Rainer Weiss.This award will stimulate the development of a scientific and technically educated workforce, advance the multidisciplinary application of LIGO-related technology, and it will disseminate information about LIGO-related science and technology to the general public. This award will fund the operation of the existing LIGO apparatus, as well as the design, test, and operation of apparatus that will improve LIGO?s sensitivity. This, and related research activities, will create continued opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration between LIGO staff members, post-docs, and students, and the approximately 1100 researchers and students at 108 universities world-wide that collaborate with LIGO. Technical part: Funding in the amount of up to $225,000,000 is provided for the continued operation of the LIGO observatories at Hanford Washington and Livingston, Louisiana, the associated science and engineering support programs at Caltech and MIT, and for carrying out education and public outreach programs that disseminate information about LIGO. Funding will be awarded through a new current cooperative agreement (PHY - 1764464) for the period from October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2023. The proposed effort includes:? Maintenance and operation of the LIGO sites and interferometers? Commissioning the interferometers to enhance their sensitivity to GWs ? Conducting astrophysical data analysis and detector characterization to discriminate GW signals from noise sources? Carrying out research and development to enhance detector sensitivity beyond the current design performance? Curation of LIGO data and its dissemination to the broader research community ? Provision of software and computing resources to LIGO, and the development of new computing tools and methods that extend LIGO?s data analysis capabilities ? Continuation of the vibrant observatory-based LIGO education and public outreach programThis award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.