WoU-MMA: Gravitational Wave Data Analysis and Improved Multi-Messenger Astrophysics Capabilities

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”大理念的优先领域。NSF的LIGO天文台通过探测来自罕见但强大的事件的引力波，为宇宙提供了一个非凡的新窗口。 LIGO天文台现在已经探测到了几十个案例，其中两个黑洞，每个黑洞的质量都比我们的太阳大很多倍，它们相互螺旋并合并成一个黑洞。 该项目将支持和改进数据分析，利用LIGO当前和下一次观测运行的数据扩大此类事件的目录，揭示重恒星的生命史以及它们如何追踪星系和结构的演变。 此外，到目前为止，LIGO已经探测到两颗中子星的合并。 第一个被命名为GW 170817，伴随着伽马射线爆发，随后是可见光，紫外线和红外线发射，以及X射线和无线电余辉。 综合“多信使”观测为中子星天体物理学提供了重要数据，并检验了宇宙膨胀和比铁重的元素形成的模型。 该项目将保持和改进用于探测中子星合并的方法，并将有关它们的信息快速传达给其他天文学家和公众，从而实现像GW 170817这样的新发现，并使用新数据将多信使天体物理学扩展到宇宙更远的地方。 对其他种类引力波信号的许多搜索也在进行中，该项目将支持协调和及时公布这些结果。 该项目还将为研究生水平的科学家提供培训，为中学生提供STEM技能发展经验，包括马里兰州大学为学龄儿童提供的非正式教育举措，特别是为九年级学生提供的物理电子夏令营。该项目解决了LIGO科学合作组织（LSC）及其与Virgo和KAGRA的合作的具体需求，以及天文学界。 PI将协调O3运行的LSC-Virgo观察结果的完成和发表，并支持O 4运行的发表计划，维护LSC-Virgo的内部PubPlan系统。 该奖项支持的研究生将使用PyCBC工具包分析O3运行后半部分的数据，以有助于O3的二进制合并事件的最终目录，并将在下一次观察运行中为二进制合并事件的检测和发布做出贡献，O 4。 PI将发起并指导一个LSC-Virgo-KAGRA进程，为O 4的公共警报内容制定政策和新的科学框架。 PI和学生将致力于对低延迟候选人选择和公共警报系统进行必要的改进，使其更快，更灵活，更智能（具有多触发一致性检查）和更强大。 一名研究生将帮助调整和调整PyCBC Live低延迟搜索管道，以用于O 4运行，将KAGRA与LIGO和Virgo探测器结合在一起。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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. NSF's LIGO observatories are providing a remarkable new window on the universe by detecting gravitational waves from rare but powerful events. The LIGO observatories have now detected dozens of cases in which two black holes, each many times more massive than our Sun, spiral around each other and merge into a single black hole. This project will support and improve data analysis to enlarge the catalog of such events using data from LIGO's current and next observing runs, revealing the life histories of heavy stars and how they trace the evolution of galaxies and structure. In addition, LIGO has detected two mergers of neutron stars so far. The first, named GW170817, was accompanied by a gamma-ray burst followed by visible-light, ultraviolet and infrared emissions, and an X-ray and radio afterglow. The combined "multi-messenger" observations have provided crucial data for neutron-star astrophysics and have tested models for the expansion of the universe and the formation of elements heavier than iron. This project will maintain and improve the methods used to detect neutron-star mergers and to quickly communicate information about them to other astronomers and to the public, enabling new discoveries like GW170817 and extending multi-messenger astrophysics farther into the universe using new data. Many searches for other kinds of gravitational-wave signals are also being carried out, and this project will support the coordination and timely publication of those results. The project will also provide training for scientists at the graduate level and STEM skill development experiences for secondary-school students, including informal education initiatives at the University of Maryland which serve school-age children, in particular a Physics Electronics Camp for rising 9th graders.This project addresses specific needs of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) and its collaborative work with Virgo and KAGRA, as well as with the astronomy community. The PI will coordinate the completion and publication of LSC-Virgo observational results from the O3 run and support publication planning for the O4 run, maintaining LSC-Virgo's internal PubPlan system. A graduate student supported by this award will analyze data from the second half of the O3 run using the PyCBC toolkit to contribute to the final catalog of binary merger events from O3, and will similarly contribute to the detection and publication of binary merger events in the next observing run, O4. The PI will initiate and guide an LSC-Virgo-KAGRA process to establish policies and a new science-motivated framework for the content of public alerts in O4. The PI and students will work to implement necessary improvements in the low-latency candidate selection and public alert systems to make them faster, more flexible, smarter (with multi-trigger consistency checks), and more robust. A graduate student will help to adapt and tune the PyCBC Live low-latency search pipeline for the O4 run, incorporating KAGRA together with the LIGO and Virgo detectors.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.