Know Your Noise: Discovery in Gravitational Wave Astronomy Through Parametric Noise Modeling

经过几十年的研究和开发，引力波的搜索终于成功了，它们的探测永远改变了天文学领域。LIGO和Virgo天文台在第二次观测结束时发现了至少一个中子星星合并和十个黑洞合并，在第三次观测中发现了超过50个更紧凑的双星合并。虽然这些探测已经在新的极端验证了广义相对论，使新的宇宙学测量成为可能，并极大地推进了我们对紧凑物体的理解，但我们只是触及了这些探测器将教给我们的东西的表面。 随着灵敏度的提高，我们将继续推进观测到的紧凑二进制参数空间的边界，我们必须解决当前噪声建模技术的局限性，以加强我们继续发现的努力。噪声瞬变-或“毛刺”-已经挑战了当前的分析技术，并可能阻碍发现具有最极端质量比和自旋的双星;可能是了解紧凑双星形成和演化的最有用的信息。该小组将开发经验方法来构建常见故障类别的参数化模型，这些模型将以无与伦比的保真度对噪声瞬态进行建模，从而实现强大的噪声缓解，促进探测器调试工作，并实现引力波唯一适合的有影响力的发现。 与此同时，该小组将利用天文学的内在能力，捕捉公众的好奇心，在俄勒冈州社区内就天文学和更广泛的STEM主题进行对话。 他们将启动Gas Up和Gaze Up计划，研究人员将把望远镜带到俄勒冈州各地的加油站，举办步行观察会议，并与加油站顾客讨论天文学和STEM主题。 这将与俄勒冈州大学松山天文台（PMO）的努力相结合，研究生和本科生的主持人将接受望远镜操作和推广培训。这些学生也将成为一个教学助理和近同伴导师池的创始成员，他们接受了远程使用PMO的培训，使远程观测项目能够纳入俄勒冈州大学本科物理课程的现有课程中。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

After decades of research and development, the search for gravitational waves has finally succeeded, and their detection has forever changed the field of astronomy. The LIGO and Virgo observatories detected at least one binary neutron star merger and ten binary black hole mergers by the end of their second observing run, and well over 50 more compact binary mergers in their third observing run. While these detections have already validated the theory of general relativity at new extremes, enabled novel cosmological measurements, and greatly advanced our understanding of compact objects, we have only scratched the surface of what these detectors will teach us. As sensitivities improve, we continue to push the boundaries of the observed compact binary parameter space, and we must address limitations in current noise modeling techniques to fortify our efforts to continue making discoveries. Noise transients — or “glitches” — have already challenged current analysis techniques, and potentially stand in the way of discovering binaries with the most extreme mass ratios and spins; possibly the most informative for understanding compact binary formation and evolution. The group will develop empirical methods to construct parameterized models of common glitch classes that will model noise transients with unparalleled fidelity, enabling robust noise mitigation, facilitating detector commissioning efforts, and enabling impactful discoveries that gravitational waves are uniquely suited to make. In parallel the group will leverage astronomy's innate ability to capture the public's curiosity to engage in conversations on astronomy and broader STEM topics within the Oregon community. They will launch the Gas Up and Gaze Up program, where researchers will bring telescopes to gas stations throughout Oregon to host walk-up observing sessions and discuss astronomy and STEM topics with gas station patrons. This will be coupled with the efforts of the University of Oregon’s Pine Mountain Observatory (PMO), where graduate and undergraduate student facilitators will receive telescope operation and outreach training. These students will also be the founding members of a pool of teaching assistants and near-peer mentors trained to use PMO remotely, enabling inclusion of remote observing projects in existing courses in the undergraduate physics curriculum at the University of Oregon.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.