Theoretical Studies in Gravitation and Astrophysics

引力和天体物理学的理论研究

• 批准号: 0650377
• 负责人: Stuart Shapiro
• 金额: $ 58.5万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-06-01 至 2011-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0650377&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Theoretical; Studies; Gravitation; Astrophysics

This award supports the research in general relativity and theoretical astrophysics of the PI, one postdoctoral research associate, one graduate student during the summer, and two REU students. The research areas include the generation of gravitational radiation, relativistic hydrodynamics, magnetohydrodynamics, and stellar dynamics, having as a common thread the crucial role of gravitation, especially relativistic gravitation. Compact objects provide the principal forum, and the dynamics of matter in a strong gravitational field is a major theme. Specific topics include the inspiral and coalescence of binary neutron stars, binary black holes, and binary black hole--neutron stars, the generation of gravitational waves from binaries and other promising astrophysical sources of gravitational radiation, gravitational collapse, the stability of rotating neutron stars and the evolution and final fate of unstable stars, gamma-ray burst sources, and the formation and growth of supermassive black holes in the cores of galaxies and quasars. Most of these topics require large-scale computation for solution. Hence the approach involves to a significant degree large-scale computations on parallel machines, as well as analytical modeling. Many of the numerical calculations employ the state-of-the-art computational resources of the UIUC's National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). They comprise both initial value and evolution computations and treat vacuum spacetimes containing black holes as well as spacetimes containing realistic matter sources and magnetic fields. The results have important implications for astronomical observations, including those planned for gravitational wave interferometers, such as LIGO and LISA.The planned research bridges the fields of general relativity and astrophysics. An appreciable portion of the funding is devoted to the education, training and support of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students. The grant supports the activities of the PI's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) team at UIUC in computational astrophysics and general relativity theory. The training that each of the PI's undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students receives in large-scale computations and scientific visualization, as well as in several different areas of theoretical physics and astrophysics, prepares them to pursue professional careers in a broad range of scientific and technical fields. The computer algorithms and numerical codes that are developed are useful to other groups working in computational physics and astrophysics. Through the research and outreach activities of the PI and his group, the grant helps promote the use of computers and visualization tools at all levels of education, as well as the public awareness of some the latest and most exciting developments in gravitation physics and astrophysics.

该奖项支持PI的一般相对论和理论天体物理学的研究，一名博士后研究助理，一名夏季研究生和两名REU学生。研究领域包括引力辐射的产生，相对论的流体动力学，磁性水力动力学和恒星动力学，是引力的关键作用，尤其是相对论性重力。紧凑的对象提供了主要论坛，并且在强力引力领域中物质的动态是一个主要主题。 Specific topics include the inspiral and coalescence of binary neutron stars, binary black holes, and binary black hole--neutron stars, the generation of gravitational waves from binaries and other promising astrophysical sources of gravitational radiation, gravitational collapse, the stability of rotating neutron stars and the evolution and final fate of unstable stars, gamma-ray burst sources, and the formation and growth of supermassive black holes in星系和类星体的核心。这些主题中的大多数都需要大规模计算来解决方案。 因此，该方法在很大程度上涉及对平行机的大规模计算以及分析建模。许多数值计算采用了UIUC国家超级计算应用中心（NCSA）的最新计算资源。它们包括初始值和进化计算，并处理包含黑洞的真空空间以及包含现实的物质源和磁场的空间。 结果对天文观测具有重要意义，包括计划的引力波干涉仪，例如LIGO和LISA。计划的研究桥接了一般相对论和天体物理学领域。资金中有明显的一部分专门用于本科生，研究生和博士后学生的教育，培训和支持。该赠款支持UIUC在计算天体物理学和一般相对论理论的UIUC本科生（REU）团队的PI研究经验的活动。 PI的本科，研究生和博士后学生的每个培训都接受了大规模计算和科学可视化，以及在理论物理和天体物理学的几个不同领域中，他们准备在广泛的科学和技术领域从事职业职业。开发的计算机算法和数值代码对计算物理和天体物理学的其他组有用。通过PI及其小组的研究和外展活动，该赠款有助于促进各种教育的计算机和可视化工具的使用，以及公众对引力物理学和天体物理学中一些最新和最令人兴奋的发展的认识。