Maximizing Scientific Outcomes of Gravitational Wave Experiments with Rapid, High-Fidelity Numerical Models

先进激光干涉仪引力波天文台（LIGO）对引力波的直接探测实现了人们期待已久的承诺，为探索宇宙打开了一扇新窗口。这些波通常来自其他星系，通过两个黑洞或中子星的合并。然后引力波经过银河系距离到达位于地球上的探测器，记录的引力波数据集可以揭示有关黑洞、时空和爱因斯坦广义相对论的信息。为了充分发挥当前和未来引力波实验的科学潜力，预期引力波信号的模型必须具有很高的精度和非常快的评估速度。该奖项将支持引力波科学的多学科方法，利用与物理学家、数学家和数据科学家的合作，产生新的算法和计算机程序，旨在最大限度地提高引力波观测的科学产出。这个奖项，以及更广泛的引力波发现，将继续通过外展努力吸引公众。通过该奖项资助的学生将接受具有强大STEM背景的培训，并为需要技术和计算技能的职业做好充分准备。该奖项将支持数值技术的开发、实施和使用，旨在克服引力波数据科学中一些最紧迫的挑战。至关重要的是，对引力波数据集的解释需要一个既能快速评估又能忠实于相关物理的模型。在使用传统技术时，这两个要求常常是相互矛盾的。最近，一组有针对性的数值工具已经出现，作为改善或在某些情况下完全克服这些瓶颈的手段。对于大规模的相对论天体物理模拟，关键的发展是朝着精确和稳健的数值方法和新的并行化策略，将提供前所未有的模拟精度。已经开发了一套不同的工具来构建替代模型，这些模型能够在几分之一秒内精确地再现任意参数值下的数值相对论波形。该项目的目标是在这些最近成功的基础上，并：(i)通过扩展这些数值方法来处理更具挑战性的案例，继续发展这些数值方法；（ii）在现有的公共代码中实施这些方法和模型，以便它们得到广泛使用；（iii）通过已经建立的快速、高保真的数值模型和模拟代码，进行高影响力的科学研究。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

The direct detection of gravitational waves by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has realized a long-awaited promise to open a new window on the Universe. These waves typically originate from other galaxies through the merging of two black holes or neutron stars. The gravitational waves then travel galactic distances to reach detectors located on Earth, and the recorded gravitational-wave datasets can reveal information about black holes, spacetime, and Einstein's theory of general relativity. To realize the full scientific potential of current and future gravitational wave experiments, a model of the expected gravitational wave signal must be both highly accurate and very fast to evaluate. This award will support a multi-disciplinary approach to gravitational-wave science, drawing on collaborations with physicists, mathematicians, and data scientists to produce new algorithms and computer programs aimed at maximizing the scientific output of gravitational wave observations. This award, and more generally discoveries made with gravitational waves, will continue to engage the public through outreach efforts. Students funded through this award will be trained with a strong STEM background and will be well prepared for careers that require technical and computational skills. This award will support the development, implementation, and use of numerical techniques designed to overcome some of the most urgent challenges in gravitational wave data science. Crucially, the interpretation of gravitational wave datasets requires access to a model which is both fast-to-evaluate and faithful to the relevant physics. Using traditional techniques, these two requirements are often at odds with one another. Recently, a set of targeted numerical tools has emerged as a means to ameliorate, or in some cases overcome entirely, these bottlenecks. For large-scale relativistic astrophysics simulations, the key developments have been towards accurate and robust numerical methods and novel parallelization strategies that will afford unprecedented simulation accuracy. A different set of tools has been developed to construct surrogate models that are able to accurately reproduce numerical relativity waveforms at arbitrary parameter values within a fraction of a second. The goal of this project is to build on these recent successes and to (i) continue the development of these numerical methods by extending them to handle more challenging cases, (ii) implement these methods and models within existing public codes so that they are widely available, and (iii) carry out high-impact scientific studies made possible by the rapid, high-fidelity numerical models and simulation codes that have been built.This 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.