Collaborative Research: WoU-MMA: Opening the Infrared Window into Multi-Messenger Astrophysics

在人类历史的大部分时间里，光一直是天文学家研究遥远宇宙中物体性质的唯一工具。最近，引力波干涉仪和高能中微子实验首次实现了对来自遥远宇宙爆炸的时空扰动和粒子的直接探测，与传统的可见光瞬态观测相一致。新兴的多信使天体物理学结合了来自引力波、中微子和光的信息，每一种都探测不同的物理尺度和过程，以揭示极端宇宙事件的物理学，这些事件检验了我们对强引力和恒星终结阶段的理解。这个项目将打开相对未开发的红外天空进行时域调查。一个灵敏的宽视场红外望远镜，宽视场红外瞬变探测器，冬季，在帕洛玛天文台将致力于多信使天体物理学。该项目将包括研究生、博士后学者、本科生暑期项目和高级论文、高中生和高中教师暑期项目。该项目计划与多个多元化倡议合作，向妇女和代表性不足的少数民族伸出援手。本项目将实现三个科学目标。首先，在LIGO/室女座第四次引力波观测期间，寻找双中子星并合和中子星黑洞并合的红外对应物。WINTER红外搜索的优势在于，预计辐射无处不在，受视角、质量比、残余寿命和不透明度分布的影响较小。表征对应物将揭示有关合成的重元素的信息。其次，将对ICECUBE高能中微子触发器的红外对应物进行搜索。第三，对最大质量恒星合并的研究将得到一个完整的光度函数和速率估计。在这个共同的包膜阶段的洞察将对恒星演化的许多分支产生影响，包括多信使祖系统。该项目将参与加州理工学院、加州州立大学、加州社区学院、麻省理工学院和帕萨迪纳联合学区现有的本科生和高中生多元化计划。这个项目推进了“宇宙大构想之窗”的目标。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。

For most of human history, light has been the only tool available for astronomers to studythe nature of objects in the distant universe. Recently, gravitational wave interferometers and high energy neutrino experiments have achieved the first direct detection of spacetime perturbations and particles from distant cosmic explosions, coincident with conventional observation of transients using visible light. The emerging discipline of multi-messenger astrophysics combines information from gravitational waves, neutrinos and light each probing a different physical scale and process to unravel the physics of extreme cosmic events that test our understanding of strong gravity and the end stages of stars. This project will open the relatively unexplored infrared sky to time-domain surveys. A sensitive wide-field infrared telescope, the Wide-Field InfraRed Transient Explorer, WINTER, at Palomar Observatory will be dedicated to multi-messenger astrophysics. The program will include graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, undergraduate students for summer projects and senior theses, and high school students and high school teachers for summer projects. The project plans to work with multiple diversity initiatives reaching out to women and underrepresented minorities. Three scientific goals will be pursued by this project. Firstly, a search will be conducted for infrared counterparts to binary neutron star mergers and neutron star black hole mergers during the LIGO/Virgo fourth gravitational wave observing run. The advantage of WINTER's infrared search is that the emission is predicted to be ubiquitous and much less affected by viewing angle, mass ratio, remnant lifetime and opacity distribution. Characterizing the counterpart will reveal information regarding the heavy elements that were synthesized. Secondly, a search for infrared counterparts to high energy neutrino triggers from ICECUBE will be undertaken. Thirdly, a search for stellar mergers of the most massive stars will be made to derive a complete luminosity function and rate estimate. Insights during this common envelope phase will have implications on many branches of stellar evolution, including multi-messenger progenitor systems. The project will participate in existing diversity initiatives for undergraduate and high school students at Caltech, California State University, California Community Colleges, MIT and the Pasadena Unified School District.This project advances the goals of the 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.