Collaborative Research: Community Planning for Scalable Cyberinfrastructure to Support Multi-Messenger Astrophysics

合作研究：支持多信使天体物理学的可扩展网络基础设施的社区规划

• 批准号: 1841612
• 负责人: Joshua Bloom
• 金额: $ 2.95万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-10-01 至 2020-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1841612&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Community; Planning; Scalable

Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (MMA) is an exciting new field of science that combines traditional astronomy with the brand new ability to measure phenomena such as gravitational waves and high-energy neutrino particles that originate from celestial objects. MMA was galvanized when the collision of two neutron stars (labeled GW/GRB 170817A) was detected last year by multiple large science instruments including the NSF-funded Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), its sister gravitational wave observatory VIRGO in Italy, NASA's Fermi gamma-ray telescope in space, and many other optical and radio telescopes world-wide. These multiple measurements of just one event improved our estimate of the speed of gravity to phenomenal precision, confirmed that neutron star mergers are the origin of the heavier atomic elements, and gave us a measurement of the radii of neutron stars to about one kilometer accuracy. Over the next decade, LIGO will identify dozens of such events per year. In parallel, the NSF-supported IceCube neutrino observatory at the U.S. South Pole Station and other neutrino and cosmic ray observatories are detecting high-energy cosmic rays from distant cosmological sources; and the new NSF-led Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and upcoming radio astronomy facilities will come online to survey the skies with unprecedented speed and depth throughout the Universe. While each kind of astronomical observing system will bring fascinating new discoveries, it is in their combination - through MMA - that transformative new insights into some of the most fundamental questions about the Universe can be realized: What is the nature of the highest-energy cosmic particle accelerators? What are the properties of cold and hot bulk matter at supra-nuclear densities? How do black holes form and evolve, across their full range of masses, and throughout cosmic time? The promise of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics can be realized only if sufficient cyberinfrastructure is available to rapidly handle, combine, and analyze the very large-scale distributed data from all the types of astronomical measurements. This project seeks to carry out community planning for scalable cyberinfrastructure to support MMA. The primary goal is to identify the key questions and cyberinfrastructure projects required by the community to take full advantage of the substantial investments in current facilities, and to realize the enormous potential of the multiple imminent next-generation projects over the decade to come. Two products of the project will be: 1) a community white paper that presents an in-depth analysis of the cyberinfrastructure needs and the opportunities for collaborations among astronomers, computer scientists, and data scientists; and 2) a strategic plan for a scalable cyberinfrastructure institute for multi-messenger astrophysics laying out its proposed mission, identifying the highest priority areas for cyberinfrastructure research and development for the US-based multi-messenger astrophysics community, and presenting a strategy for managing and evolving a set of services that benefits and engages the entire community. This project advances the objectives of the National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI) and the objectives of "Harnessing the Data Revolution" and "Windows on the Universe, two of the 10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments. This project is supported by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure in the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering and the Division of Astronomical Sciences and the Division of Physics in the Directorate of Mathematical & Physical Sciences.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.

多信使天体物理学（MMA）是一个令人兴奋的新科学领域，它将传统天文学与测量源自天体的引力波和高能中微子粒子等现象的全新能力相结合。去年，当多个大型科学仪器检测到两颗中子星（标记为 GW/GRB 170817A）的碰撞时，MMA 受到了刺激，其中包括 NSF 资助的激光干涉仪引力波天文台 (LIGO)、其姐妹引力波天文台意大利 VIRGO、美国宇航局的太空费米伽马射线望远镜以及世界各地的许多其他光学和射电望远镜。仅对一个事件的多次测量就将我们对重力速度的估计提高到了惊人的精度，证实了中子星合并是较重原子元素的起源，并使我们对中子星半径的测量达到了约一公里的精度。在接下来的十年中，LIGO 每年将识别出数十起此类事件。与此同时，美国国家科学基金会支持的美国南极站冰立方中微子观测站和其他中微子和宇宙线观测站​​正在探测来自遥远宇宙源的高能宇宙射线；由国家科学基金会领导的新型大型综合巡天望远镜和即将推出的射电天文学设施将上线，以前所未有的速度和深度对整个宇宙的天空进行勘测。虽然每种天文观测系统都会带来令人着迷的新发现，但正是通过 MMA 将它们结合在一起，才能实现对宇宙一些最基本问题的变革性新见解：最高能量宇宙的本质是什么粒子加速器？超核密度下的冷和热块体物质有哪些特性？黑洞在其整个质量范围内以及整个宇宙时间内是如何形成和演化的？只有拥有足够的网络基础设施来快速处理、组合和分析来自所有类型天文测量的超大规模分布式数据，多信使天体物理学的承诺才能实现。该项目旨在对可扩展的网络基础设施进行社区规划，以支持 MMA。主要目标是确定社区所需的关键问题和网络基础设施项目，以充分利用现有设施的大量投资，并在未来十年内实现多个即将到来的下一代项目的巨大潜力。该项目的两个产品是：1）社区白皮书，深入分析网络基础设施需求以及天文学家、计算机科学家和数据科学家之间的合作机会； 2) 一个可扩展的多信使天体物理学网络基础设施研究所的战略计划，阐述其拟议的使命，确定美国多信使天体物理学界网络基础设施研究和开发的最高优先领域，并提出管理和发展的战略发展一套有利于整个社区并吸引整个社区参与的服务。该项目推进了国家战略计算计划 (NSCI) 的目标以及“利用数据革命”和“宇宙之窗”的目标，这是未来 NSF 投资的 10 个重要想法中的两个。该项目得到了美国国家科学基金会办公室的支持计算机与信息科学与工程理事会的先进网络基础设施以及数学与物理科学理事会的天文科学部和物理部。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为值得通过以下方式获得支持：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。