Searching for the Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background with Advanced Gravitational Wave Detectors

用先进的引力波探测器寻找随机引力波背景

• 批准号: 2110238
• 负责人: Vuk Mandic
• 金额: $ 44.2万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-15 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2110238&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Searching; Stochastic; Gravitational; Wave; Background

This award supports research in gravitational waves data analysis and it addresses the priority areas of NSF's "Windows on the Universe" Big Idea. Stochastic gravitational-wave background arises as an incoherent superposition of many gravitational wave signals generated by uncorrelated astrophysical and cosmological sources throughout the universe. Measuring the astrophysical component of this background, for example due to mergers of black holes and/or neutron stars, would provide information about how the structure in the universe formed. Similarly, measuring the cosmological component of this background would provide unique information about the universe when it was a fraction of a second old, and about the physical laws that apply to very high energy scales that are not reproducible in laboratories. This project aims to search and detect the stochastic gravitational wave background using the upcoming Advanced LIGO, Virgo, and Kagra data, as well as to characterize its composition and study implications for different astrophysical and cosmological models. The project will enable involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in frontier research, and it will promote gravitational-wave science to the general public.Stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) arises as an incoherent superposition of many gravitational wave signals generated by uncorrelated astrophysical or cosmological sources throughout the universe. This project aims to search for (and detect) the SGWB using the upcoming aLIGO, aVirgo, and KAGRA data from the fourth observing run (O4) in 2022/23, leveraging the improved detector sensitivities expected for O4 and deploying two search techniques. The traditional cross-correlation based search is expected to be 10 times more sensitive than the most recent results based on the first three observation runs, with another factor of 4 improvement expected with the A+ detector sensitivities in 2024 and beyond. For the specific case of the SGWB due to binary black hole mergers, the full Bayesian Search will be developed with the potential to improve the sensitivity by ~1000 times relative to the cross-correlation search. These searches will probe the high-redshift distribution of the compact binary systems and provide information about their formation and evolution. They will also constrain cosmological SGWB models, such as inflationary, phase transitions, and cosmic (super)string models, and therefore probe the physics of fundamental interactions at very high energies, unachievable in laboratories. Both the cross-correlation and the Bayesian SGWB searches will estimate the directional content of the SGWB, enabling future studies correlating the SGWB with electromagnetic tracers of matter structure in the universe, such as galaxy counts or gravitational lensing. In addition to involving graduate and undergraduate students in frontier research, this project includes a series of activities designed to bring the excitement of the gravitational-wave science to broad communities in the Twin Cities and Minnesota, including physics demonstrations and presentations in K-12 schools and data analysis projects for implementation in K-12 classrooms.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.

该奖项支持引力波数据分析的研究，它涉及NSF“宇宙中的Windows”的优先领域。随机引力波背景是由整个宇宙中不相关的天体物理和宇宙学来源产生的许多引力波信号的不一致的叠加。例如，由于黑洞和/或中子星的合并，测量了这种背景的天体物理成分，将提供有关宇宙结构如何形成的信息。同样，测量此背景的宇宙学组成部分将在宇宙的一小部分中提供有关宇宙的独特信息，以及有关在实验室中不可再现的非常高能量尺度的物理定律。该项目旨在使用即将到来的高级LIGO，处女座和Kagra数据来搜索和检测随机引力波背景，并表征其组成和研究对不同天体物理和宇宙学模型的含义。该项目将使本科生和研究生参与边境研究，并将向公众促进引力波科科学。整体引力波背景（SGWB）是许多引力波信号的不连贯叠加，该引力波信号由无关的天体或宇宙学源中无关的许多引力浪潮产生。该项目的目的是使用即将到来的第四个观测运行（O4）的Aligo，Avirgo和Kagra数据来搜索（并检测）SGWB，该数据利用了预期的O4预期的改进的检测器敏感性并部署了两种搜索技术。基于前三个观察跑步的最新结果，基于互相关的传统搜索的敏感性将比最新结果高10倍，而2024年及以后的A+检测器敏感性则预期为4倍。对于由于二进制黑洞合并而导致的SGWB的特定情况，将开发完整的贝叶斯搜索，以相对于互相关搜索提高敏感性约1000倍。这些搜索将探测紧凑型二进制系统的高红移分布，并提供有关其形成和进化的信息。它们还将限制宇宙学SGWB模型，例如通货膨胀，相变和宇宙（超级）字符串模型，因此探测了在实验室中无法实现的很高能量的基本相互作用的物理学。互相关和贝叶斯SGWB搜索都将估计SGWB的方向含量，从而使未来的研究能够将SGWB与宇宙中物质结构的电磁示踪剂相关联，例如星系计数或重力镜片。 除了让毕业生和本科生参与边境研究外，该项目还包括一系列活动，旨在将引力波浪科学的兴奋带到双城和明尼苏达州的广泛社区，包括K-12学校的物理演示和演示文献和演示，以及在K-12的课堂上的实施，以表现出NSF的宣传和数据分析项目。更广泛的影响审查标准。