Investigations in Gravitational Radiation - Support of LIGO Observing Run 3

这项申请涉及STFC ST/N005430/1。爱因斯坦的广义相对论预测，在强引力场中的动力系统将以引力波的形式发出巨大的能量。这些波是时空结构中的涟漪，以光速从源头传播，并携带有关创造它们的物理过程的信息。虽然很强大，但波造成的时空扭曲非常小，这使得它们很难被探测到。几十年来，STFC一直是LIGO项目的合作伙伴，该项目运营着采用尖端技术的千米级探测器。2015年9月14日，当LIGO探测到遥远星系中两个黑洞猛烈合并产生的引力波时，爱因斯坦的理论得到了壮观的证实。从那时起，又有九个黑洞合并产生的引力波得到了证实。此外，LIGO及其合作天文台处女座在2017年8月17日探测到了两颗中子星合并产生的引力波--烧毁了死星的核心。引力信号与碰撞中发出的光的比较导致了天体物理学和宇宙学的几项壮观突破。其中包括直接测量宇宙的膨胀率(“哈勃常数”)，强有力的证据表明宇宙中的大多数重元素，如金和铂，都是在这些中子星合并中产生的。世界各地的探测器网络包括美国先进的激光干涉仪引力波天文台(LIGO)、法国-意大利-荷兰-波兰先进的处女座(Virgo)和德国-英国的GEO600，以及日本正在建造的KAGRA探测器。LIGO和处女座将在2019年年中开始第三次观测，汇集他们的数据来寻找更多的黑洞、中子星和其他奇异现象。这项拨款支持的研究将有助于扩大新数据带来的科学利益。专注的研究人员将开发技术，在最终碰撞前后甚至之前的时刻确定合并的黑洞和中子星的位置，使天文学家能够研究合并后关键的第一分钟发出的光。他们还将研究如何从引力波信号中推断出中子星迄今未知的内部结构，从而探索宇宙中一些最极端条件下物质的性质。

This application relates to STFC ST/N005430/1.Einstein's General Theory of Relativity predicts that dynamical systems in strong gravity fields will emit vast amounts of energy in the form of gravitational waves. These waves are ripples in the very fabric of spacetime, that spread out from their sources at the speed of light, and carry information about physical processes that created them. While powerful, the distortion of spacetime created by the waves is incredibly small, making them challenging to detect. For several decades STFC has been a partner in the LIGO project, which operates kilometer-scale detectors with cutting edge technology. On 14 Sept 2015, Einstein's theory was confirmed spectacularly when LIGO detected gravitational waves from the violent merger of a pair of black holes in a distant galaxy. Since then gravitational waves from a further nine black-hole mergers have been confirmed. In addition, on 17 August 2017 LIGO and its partner observatory Virgo detected gravitational waves from the merger of a pair of neutron stars -- burned out cores of dead stars. Comparison of gravitational signal to light emitted in the collision lead to several spectacular breakthroughs in astrophysics and cosmology. These included a direct measurement of the expansion rate of the Universe (the "Hubble constant"), and strong evidence that most of the heavy elements in the Universe such as gold and platinum are produced in these neutron star mergers.The worldwide network of detectors includes the American advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), the French-Italian-Dutch-Polish advanced Virgo, and the German-UK GEO600, plus the KAGRA detector under construction in Japan. LIGO and Virgo will start the third observing run in early-mid 2019, pooling their data in the hunt for further black holes, neutron stars, and other exotic phenomena. The research supported by this grant will help to extend the scientific benefit from the new data. Dedicated researchers will develop techniques for determining the location of merging black holes and neutron stars in the moments around or even before the final collision, enabling astronomers to study the light given off in the critical first minutes following the merger. They will also investigate how we can infer the as-yet-unknown interior structure of neutron stars from the gravitational-wave signal, thereby probing the properties of matter under some of the most extreme conditions found in the Universe.