Studies of Black Hole Binary Systems Using Time-Domain Perturbation Theory

引力波天文学这一新兴领域正在经历一场重大变革，因为美国LIGO探测器和其他国际天文台现在已经能够定期探测到来自黑洞和中子星双星系统的引力波。从紧凑的双星系统中观测到的这些波将被用来获得关于宇宙中最神秘物体的额外信息。LIGO还产生了重要的衍生技术，并帮助公众和年轻人关注STEM学科。这个研究项目有助于理论科学的发展，这不仅对LIGO的任务，而且对下一代探测器的任务都起着至关重要的作用。主要目标是利用理论和计算技术了解黑洞系统的重要方面。该项目包括对学生的支持，因此直接有助于学生在重要的STEM领域获得指导、培训和保留。学生们培养的计算技能是高度“便携”的，因此将允许他们获得各种各样的职业选择，包括在国家非常需要的领域。PI以前的研究项目已经在一般媒体上讨论过，这项工作也有很大的潜力成功地向公众推广。这个研究项目将有助于解决引力物理领域中许多具有挑战性和重要的问题。主要目的是利用点粒子摄动理论建立和应用黑洞双星系统引力波发射的先进计算模型。将为重力波形生成的快速准确模型（有效一体模型、代理模型和其他模型）的发展做出重大贡献，这将对当前和未来的引力波探测器（如LIGO、下一代甚至未来的星载任务，如LISA）的数据分析能力产生积极影响。此外，计划中的工作将使人们更好地了解黑洞双星系统的后期准正相辐射。该项目还将通过开放和公共的Einstein@Home项目为引力波数据分析工作做出贡献。在这个项目的背景下，所有的研究活动都将涉及学生，并与其他美国和欧洲的研究小组合作。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 emergent field of gravitational wave astronomy is undergoing a major transformation as a result of the now-routine detections of gravitational waves from a black hole and neutron star binary systems by the US LIGO detector alongside other international observatories. Observations of these waves from compact binary systems will be used to obtain additional information about the most mysterious objects in the Universe. LIGO has also generated significant spin-off technologies, and helped direct public and youth attention towards STEM disciplines. This research project aids in the development of the theory-based science that plays a very critical role in not only LIGO’s mission, but also that of next generation detectors. The main objective is to understand important aspects of black hole systems using theoretical and computational techniques. The project includes support for students and therefore directly contributes to student mentorship, traineeship and retention in an important STEM area. The computational skills that students develop are highly “portable”, and therefore will allow them access to a variety of career options, including in areas of great national need. Previous research projects by the PI have been discussed in the general media, and this work also has great potential at being successful for outreach to the general public. This research project will contribute to a number of challenging and important problems in the area of gravitational physics. The main objective is the development and application of an advanced computational model for the gravitational wave emission from a black hole binary system using point-particle perturbation theory. Significant contributions will be made to the development of fast and accurate models (effective-one-body, surrogate and other models) for gravitational waveform generation, that will positively impact the data analysis capabilities of current and future gravitational wave detectors (such as LIGO, next generation and even future space-borne missions, such as LISA). In addition, the planned work will bring about a much better understanding of the late-stage quasi-normal phase radiation from black hole binary systems. The project will also contribute to the gravitational wave data-analysis effort via the open and public Einstein@Home project. All the research activities in the context of this project will involve students and collaborations with other US and European research groups.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.