MRI: Development of Telescope Arrays to Image the Optical Counterparts of Mergers within Two Seconds of Gravitational-Wave Detection and Observe Supernovae at the Time of Explosion

MRI：开发望远镜阵列，在引力波探测的两秒内对合并的光学对应物进行成像，并观察爆炸时的超新星

• 批准号: 2117236
• 负责人: Patrick Kelly
• 金额: $ 99.99万
• 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: 2021-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2117236&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Development; Telescope; Arrays; Image

The merger of a pair of black holes or neutron stars creates gravitational waves. Mergers that lead to explosions also emit light, which conveys information about the heavy elements that are created. Since 2015, astronomers have recorded the gravitational waves from fifty mergers. However, visible light from only a single merger has been clearly pinpointed. This project will develop telescopes in New Mexico and Greece that can image a large region of the sky within just two seconds of an alert. By searching more quickly than existing facilities can do, the telescopes will identify new, brightening sources on the sky and obtain early data. The project will also monitor nearby galaxies for very young supernovae. Undergraduates from Minnesota and New Mexico as well as citizen scientists will participate. The inclusion of underrepresented minorities, notably Native Americans and Hispanics, is planned in various aspects of the work that will provide broad training suitable for future academic or private industry careers.At each site, the Total-Coverage Ultra-Fast Response to Binary Mergers Observatory (TURBO) will consist of large-format CMOS detectors mounted on sixteen 0.20-meter diameter optical telescopes. Within two seconds of a trigger alert, TURBO will begin obtaining continuous, multi-band images of up to 240 square degrees. A prototype telescope in St. Paul, Minnesota has been implemented that can acquire images within two seconds of an alert. Counterparts to gravitational-wave detections of mergers will multiply the information available from just the gravitational waves alone by revealing the mergers’ distances, environments, and nucleosynthetic products. Given its unique sensitivity to prompt emission, TURBO may detect novel types of counterparts, yielding potential insights, for example, into the poorly understood observed population of binary black-hole mergers. Observations of supernovae in nearby galaxies at the time of explosion (4-6 events each year) can be expected to provide new understanding of their stellar progenitor populations and explosion mechanisms. The opportunity to included numerous undergraduate students in research projects and the use of Zooinverse in analysis of the data is planned.This project advances the goals of the Windows on the Universe Big Idea.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.

一对黑洞或中子星的合并会产生引力波，合并也会发出光，从而传递有关所产生的重元素的信息。自 2015 年以来，天文学家已经记录了 50 次合并产生的引力波。该项目将在新墨西哥州和希腊开发望远镜，通过更快的搜索速度，在发出警报后的短短两秒内即可对大片天空区域进行成像。该项目将利用现有设施的能力来识别天空中新的明亮源并获取早期数据，来自明尼苏达州和新墨西哥州的本科生以及公民科学家也将参与其中。计划在工作的各个方面针对代表性不足的少数族裔，特别是美洲原住民和西班牙裔，为未来的学术或私营行业职业提供广泛的培训。在每个地点，都设有全面覆盖的二元合并超快速响应观察站(TURBO) 将由安装在 16 个直径 0.20 米的光学望远镜上的大型 CMOS 探测器组成，在触发警报后两秒内，TURBO 将开始获取高达 240 平方度的连续多波段图像。明尼苏达州圣保罗已经实现了可以在警报发生后两秒内获取图像的合并引力波探测的对应装置，通过揭示引力波，可以增加仅从引力波中获得的信息。考虑到合并的距离、环境和核合成产物，TURBO 可以检测到新类型的礼物，从而产生潜在的见解，例如，对观测到的双黑洞合并的观测。预计在附近星系爆炸时（每年 4-6 次事件）的研究将提供对其恒星祖族群和爆炸机制的新认识，让众多本科生参与研究项目并利用它们。计划对数据进行 Zooinverse 分析。该项目推进了“宇宙之窗”大创意的目标。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过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，被认为值得支持。