WOU-MMA: Probing Supermassive Binary Black Holes with Pulsar Timing Arrays

该奖项支持相对论和相对论天体物理学的研究，并解决了NSF“宇宙之窗”大构想的优先领域。引力波提供了一种观察宇宙的新方法，并有望彻底改变我们对物理学和天文学许多主题的理解。脉冲星定时阵列（PTAs）利用毫秒脉冲星探测低频引力波，该频段有希望的来源包括超大质量双黑洞。对这些源的引力波观测将帮助我们了解它们的生长和演化，以及它们所在星系的特性。PTAs还可以通过确定这些源发射的引力波是否具有广义相对论预测的性质来进行重力的基本测试。本提案的研究重点是开发pta的数据分析技术。PI将使用模拟来研究引力波信号的重要性如何随时间演变，并利用这些结果设计用于探测和表征引力波的坚固管道。PI还将研究优化脉冲星计时阵列的方法，例如确定天空位置以搜索新的毫秒脉冲星。最后，PI将改进结合不同望远镜数据的方法，通过利用目前世界各地正在建设的下一代射电望远镜来提高pta的灵敏度。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。

This award supports research in relativity and relativistic astrophysics and it addresses the priority areas of NSF's "Windows on the Universe" Big Idea. Gravitational waves provide a new way of observing the Universe and promise to revolutionize our understanding of many topics in physics and astronomy. Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) use millisecond pulsars to detect low-frequency gravitational waves, and promising sources in this frequency band include supermassive binary black holes. Gravitational wave observations of these sources will help us understand their growth and evolution, as well as the properties of the galaxies in which they reside. PTAs can also perform fundamental tests of gravity by determining whether the gravitational waves emitted by these sources have the properties predicted by general relativity.The research in this proposal focuses on developing data analysis techniques for PTAs. The PI will use simulations to study how the significance of the gravitational wave signal evolves over time, and use these results to design robust pipelines for detecting and characterizing gravitational waves. The PI will also study ways of optimizing pulsar timing arrays, such as identifying sky locations to search for new millisecond pulsars. Finally, the PI will improve methods for combining data from different telescopes to enhance the sensitivity of PTAs by leveraging the next-generation radio telescopes currently under construction around the world.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.