WoU-MMA: Enabling Multi-Messenger Astrophysics with Advanced LIGO: from Detector Characterization to Interpretation of Gravitational-Wave Signals

该奖项支持相对论和相对论天体物理学的研究，它解决了NSF“宇宙之窗”大构想的优先领域。在首次直接探测到来自天体物理源的引力波的八年后，多信使天体物理学已经确立了自己作为一门强大的新科学分支的地位。引力波使科学家能够研究宇宙中最神秘物体的起源，在极端条件下测试重力和物质的基本性质，并测量宇宙的膨胀率。同时，引力波天体物理学对公众对科学技术的认知产生了重大影响。LIGO及其合作者使黑洞和中子星碰撞的看似不可能的观测成为可能，这提高了公众对美国科学和国家科学基金会领导作用的认识。在这种背景下，密苏里大学的研究人员和学生将继续支持LIGO的核心任务和引力波天体物理学，通过科学操作贡献，改进分析方法的发展，以及旨在吸引来自所有社会经济背景和种族的年轻人从事科学事业的更广泛的影响计划。LIGO探测器灵敏度的提高将带来大量新的观测结果。与此同时，这些丰富的发现将带来新的挑战，需要整个科学界的共同努力来解决。在该合同期间，密苏里大学的研究人员和学生将进行LIGO多信使天体物理搜索，执行探测器表征和校准活动，协助探测器现场操作，并维护和改进当前在线和离线引力波搜索的分析算法。对研发的贡献将包括开发和部署新的基于机器学习的方法来表征探测器噪声，加速从搜索中估计物理参数，并改进对引力波信号的解释。密苏里大学的科学操作将使LIGO有效运行，并在观测运行期间继续提供有影响力的科学。研发活动将改进LIGO的搜索管道，并提供从探测器中提取物理信息的功能方法。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. Multi-messenger astrophysics has established itself as a powerful new branch of science eight years after the first direct detection of a gravitational wave from an astrophysical source. Gravitational waves enable scientists to investigate the origins of the universe's most enigmatic objects, test the fundamental nature of gravity and matter in extreme conditions, and measure the universe's expansion rate. Simultaneously, gravitational-wave astrophysics has a significant impact on public perception of science and technology. The seemingly impossible observations of colliding black holes and neutron stars made possible by LIGO and its collaborators raise public awareness of US science and the National Science Foundation's leadership role. In this context, Missouri S&T researchers and students will continue to support LIGO's core mission and gravitational-wave astrophysics through scientific operation contributions, the development of improved analysis methods, and broader impact initiatives aimed at attracting young people from all socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnicities to science careers.The increased sensitivity of the LIGO detectors will result in an abundance of new observations. At the same time, this bounty of discoveries will create new challenges that will require a collaborative effort from the entire scientific community to resolve. During the course of this award, Missouri S&T researchers and students will conduct LIGO multimessenger astrophysics searches, perform detector characterization and calibration activities, assist with detector operations on site, and maintain and improve current analysis algorithms for online and offline gravitational-wave searches. Contributions to R&D will include developing and deploying new machine learning-based methods to characterize detector noise, accelerate the estimation of physical parameters from searches, and improve the interpretation of gravitational-wave signals. Missouri S&T's scientific operations will allow LIGO to operate effectively and continue to deliver impactful science during observing runs. R&D activities will improve LIGO's search pipelines and provide functional methods for extracting physical information from the 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.