Collaborative Research: Understanding Compact Binary Formation with the First Gravitational Wave Detections

致密天体(黑洞和中子星)双星的形成和演化是天体物理学中的一个重要而具有挑战性的问题。这类系统的观测数据来自射电望远镜对至少有一颗脉动中子星或脉冲星的双星的探测，以及对双星生命的最后几秒钟到几分钟的引力波观测，当它们被激发和合并时。约翰霍普金斯大学和宾夕法尼亚州立大学之间的一项研究合作将利用引力波观测，利用统计推断和机器学习来探索致密双星的天体物理模型。需要解决的具体科学问题包括致密双星如何形成的细节，使用致密双星合并来测量到宇宙中遥远来源的距离，以及了解中子星致密核心中的物质状态。引力波探测器的这一惊人发现引起了媒体和社交媒体的极大关注。黑洞、中子星和引力波是公众非常感兴趣的话题，有可能吸引初中和高中的学生学习STEM科目，否则他们会选择其他科目。研究人员将利用目前对这些领域的兴趣激增的机会，让初中生了解到对物理学前沿研究和发现的兴奋。这项拟议的研究将利用LIGO和室女座引力波探测器观测到的双星合并事件目录，阐明致密双星的演化模型。更具体地说，该项目的目标是区分致密双星的相互竞争的进化模型(星系团中的动力学相互作用、孤立双星的演化和双星黑洞的原始起源)和测量的质量分布、自旋和致密天体合并的其他性质。这项研究将有助于制作从天体物理模型到从引力波观测测量到的系统整体性质的地图。这样的地图，结合贝叶斯推理和机器学习，将被用来更深入地了解致密天体双星的天体物理学。研究人员将使用致密双星作为精确的距离测量手段，以获得星系和星系团的特殊速度，星系的3-D映射，并表征星系的气体、恒星和暗物质含量，并将结果与其他方法进行比较。引力波观测是多信使天文学的关键，这将有助于解决起源问题，如黑洞如何以及何时形成和如何演化，宇宙膨胀历史的构成，以及中子星致密核心中物质的状态。这个项目推进了NSF宇宙大理想之窗的目标。这一奖项反映了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。

The formation and evolution of binaries of compact astrophysical objects (black holes and neutron stars) is an important and challenging problem in astrophysics. Observational data of such systems comes from radio telescope detections of binaries with at least one pulsating neutron star, or pulsar, and from gravitational-wave observations of the final few seconds to minutes of the lives of the binary, when they inspiral and merge. A research collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Pennsylvania State University will use gravitational-wave observations to explore astrophysical models of compact binaries, using statistical inference and machine learning. Among the specific scientific topics to be addressed are the details of how compact binaries form, the use of compact binary mergers to measure distances to sources far off in the universe, and understanding the state of matter in the dense cores of neutron stars. The phenomenal discoveries by the gravitational-wave detectors have received a great deal of attention from the press and in social media. Black holes, neutron stars and gravitational waves are topics of great interest to the public, and have the potential to attract students in middle and high schools to STEM subjects who would have otherwise chosen other alternatives. The researchers will use the current surge of interest in these areas to inform middle and high students of the excitement of research and discovery in the forefront of physics. The proposed research will shed light on evolutionary models of compact binaries using a catalog of binary merger events observed by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave detectors. More specifically, the goal of the project is to discriminate between competing evolutionary models of compact binaries (dynamical interactions in clusters, evolution of isolated binaries, and primordial origin of binary black holes) from the measured distributions of masses, spins and other properties of compact object mergers. This study will help produce a map from the astrophysical models to the bulk properties of the systems measured from gravitational wave observations. Such maps, in combination with Bayesian inference and machine learning, will be used to gain a deeper understanding of the astrophysics of compact object binaries. The investigators will use compact binaries as accurate measures of distance to obtain peculiar velocities of galaxies and clusters, 3-d mapping of galaxies, and to characterize the gas, stellar and dark matter content of galaxies, comparing the results with other approaches. Gravitational wave observations are key to multi-messenger astronomy, which will help address the origin questions, such as how and when black holes formed and how they evolved, what constitutes the expansion history of the Universe, and what is the state of matter in dense cores of neutron stars. This project advances the goals of the NSF Windows on the Universe Big Idea.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.