Collaborative Research: Massively Parallel Simulations of Compact Objects

该奖项支持相对论和相对论天体物理学的研究，并阐述了美国国家科学基金会“宇宙之窗”宏伟构想的优先领域。LIGO和处女座引力波探测器每周都会有新的发现。他们探测到的引力波是在两个致密物体的合并中产生的，比如黑洞或中子星。引力波携带着有关其起源的重要信息，可以通过与理论计算的仔细比较来提取这些信息，例如对二元合并的全面计算机模拟。这个项目将使用Dendro-GR创建的计算机模拟来研究双星中子星和黑洞的合并，Dendro-GR是一种在最大的超级计算机上非常高效地运行的新计算机代码。这项工作还将有助于推进当前的计算能力，以便进行更好、更快的波形计算。这些努力将有助于扩大引力波探测的使用，从证实广义相对论到对该理论和其他可能的竞争理论提供额外的、甚至更严格的测试。将来自计算机模拟的数据与引力和电磁观测相结合，将使我们能够以迄今不可能的方式探索黑洞和中子星、伽马射线爆发、千新星和超新星的物理，甚至元素周期表上最重元素的形成。为这个项目所做的工作将促进科学的进步，并为包括计算机科学、数学和物理在内的多个STEM领域的本科生和研究生培养做出贡献。最后，Dendro-GR是一个开源项目。该项目的主要目的是在当前计算能力的前沿研究合并二进制紧凑对象的动力学。DREDRO-GR基于小波的改进和计算效率允许对更广泛的可能合并场景进行建模，增强了检测和理解这些高能事件的能力，以及在我们当前的引力模型之外搜索可能的新物理。这些努力将主要针对以下目标：(1)部署新的计算算法和能力，以确定双中子星激发和合并的引力波形，并具有足够的精度，使它们可用于改进的波形星表。(2)研究大质量比的双星黑洞激发和合并，以了解这类未被探索的双星，并扩大当前波形星表的范围。(3)在一系列可供选择的引力理论中计算双黑洞合并的波形，以探索与广义相对论预测的可能偏差，并在我们当前的引力模型之外寻找新的物理。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award supports research in relativity and relativistic astrophysics and it addresses the priority areas of NSF's "Windows on the Universe" Big Idea. The LIGO and VIRGO gravitational wave detectors are beginning to make new discoveries on a weekly basis. The gravitational waves that they detect are generated in the mergers of two compact objects, such as black holes or neutron stars. Gravitational waves carry important information about their origin that can extracted through careful comparisons to theoretical calculations, such as full-scale computer simulations of binary mergers. This project will study mergers of binary neutron stars and black holes using computer simulations created by Dendro-GR, a new computer code that runs very efficiently on the largest supercomputers. This work will also help push forward current computational capabilities to permit better and faster waveform calculations to be made. These efforts will aid in expanding the use of gravitational wave detections from confirming general relativity to providing additional, even more stringent tests of both the theory and other possible competing theories. Combining data from computer simulations with both gravitational and electromagnetic observations will allow us to probe, in a manner heretofore impossible, the physics of black holes and neutron stars, of gamma-ray bursts, of kilonovae and supernovae, and of even the formation of the heaviest elements on the periodic table. Work done for this project will promote the progress of science and contribute to undergraduate and graduate training in multiple STEM fields including computer science, mathematics, and physics. Finally, Dendro-GR is an open source project.The overarching purpose of this project is to study the dynamics of merging binary compact objects at the frontier of current computational capabilities. The wavelet-based refinement and computational efficiency of Dendro-GR allows the modeling of a wider variety of possible merger scenarios, enhancing the ability to both detect and understand these high-energy events, as well as search for possible new physics beyond our current gravitational models. The efforts will be directed primarily at the following goals: (1) Deploying new computational algorithms and abilities to determine gravitational waveforms for binary neutron star inspirals and mergers of sufficient accuracy that they are usable in improved waveform catalogs. (2) Investigating binary black hole inspirals and mergers with large mass ratios both to understand this class of largely unexplored binaries and to expand the range of current waveform catalogs. (3) Calculating waveforms from binary black hole mergers within a family of alternative gravitational theories in order to probe possible deviations from the predictions of general relativity and to search for new physics beyond our current model for gravity.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.