Proposal for A Stochastic-Signal-Model-Based Search for Intermittent Gravitational-Wave Backgrounds

基于随机信号模型的间歇引力波背景搜索提案

• 批准号: 2400301
• 负责人: Joseph Romano
• 金额: $ 31.14万
• 依托单位: The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-11-01 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2400301&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Proposal; Stochastic; Signal; Model; Based

The field of observational gravitational-wave astronomy began with a "bang" on 14 September 2015 with the detection of gravitational waves from the merger of two inspiraling and colliding black holes. This detection opened a window into the "dark side" of the universe, providing the means to observe astrophysical objects and events that would otherwise be impossible to see with standard optical telescopes. To date, approximately 100 "loud" events, from relatively nearby black holes and/or neutron stars, have been detected by several large-scale gravitational-wave detectors including NSF's LIGO. But the combined signal from the population of more distant pairs of black holes has yet to be detected. This project is designed precisely to target this signal, which (using the analogy of hearing) would sound like popcorn popping. In other words, the signal consists of weak bursts of gravitational waves of short duration (~seconds) separated by periods (~a few minutes) of relative silence. The data analysis tools developed as part of this project will explicitly take into account the popcorn-like nature of the signal, leading to a more sensitive search and a possible first detection of this type of signal within the next few years. The project will provide support and training in data analysis to one or two graduate students, thus adding to the growing community of researchers in this emerging field. The computational and data analysis skills that the students will acquire are transferable outside the field of gravitational-wave astronomy, making the students marketable in a variety of disciplines--potentially as future university professors or outside the university setting in research labs or high-tech companies.The proposed project consists of three main activities, which increase in scope and complexity over the period of the proposal: (i) First, to provide a "proof-of-principle" demonstration of a stochastic-signal-based search for popcorn-like (intermittent) gravitational-wave signals in the context of a set of relatively simple toy models. (ii) Second, to extend the data analysis pipeline developed in part (i) to run on more realistic data sets, thus stress-testing the proposed search. (iii) Third, to run a production version of the pipeline developed in part (ii) on the Advanced LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA data taken during the 4th observation run O4, which will start near the end of 2022 / beginning of 2023. The proposed stochastic-signal-based search has the potential to advance the field of gravitational-wave astronomy by being the first search to detect the signal from mergers of pairs of stellar-mass black holes throughout the Universe. This is possible because the search takes into account the intermittent nature of the signal, which should lead to a reduced time-to-detection by increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of the recovered signal amplitude compared to the current search, which assumes that the signal is "on" all the time. In addition, by using a stochastic-signal model, the search is both more robust to the type of source and less computationally demanding than a deterministic-signal-based search, which is tuned to the specific waveforms associated with binary black hole mergers.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.

观察性引力波天文学领域始于2015年9月14日的“爆炸”，并从两个灵感和碰撞黑洞的合并中发现了引力波。该检测为宇宙的“黑暗侧”打开了一个窗口，提供了观察天体物理对象和事件的手段，否则这些事件是用标准光学望远镜看不到的。迄今为止，来自附近的黑洞和/或中子星的大约100个“响亮”事件已被包括NSF的Ligo在内的几个大型重力波探测器检测到。但是，尚未检测到来自更遥远的黑洞对人群的组合信号。该项目的目的是针对此信号，该信号（使用听力的类比）听起来像是爆米花爆炸。换句话说，该信号由短持续时间（〜秒）的重力波的弱爆发组成，该波浪被相对静音的周期（〜几分钟）隔开。作为该项目的一部分开发的数据分析工具将明确考虑信号的爆米花样性质，从而导致更敏感的搜索，并在未来几年内首次检测此类信号。该项目将为一两个研究生提供数据分析的支持和培训，从而增加了这个新兴领域的研究人员社区。学生将要获得的计算和数据分析技能可以在引力波天文学领域以外转移，这使学生可以在各种学科中以各种学科的方式出售 - 作为未来的大学教授或在研究实验室或高科技公司的大学环境之外。拟议的项目由三个主要活动组成，这些项目由三个主要活动组成，这些活动的范围和复杂性在范围内提高了，并提供了提议的范围。基于随机信号的搜索在一组相对简单的玩具模型的背景下，对爆米花状（间歇性）引力波信号进行了搜索。 （ii）第二，为了扩展（i）部分开发的数据分析管道，以在更现实的数据集上运行，从而压力测试所提出的搜索。 (iii) Third, to run a production version of the pipeline developed in part (ii) on the Advanced LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA data taken during the 4th observation run O4, which will start near the end of 2022 / beginning of 2023. The proposed stochastic-signal-based search has the potential to advance the field of gravitational-wave astronomy by being the first search to detect the signal from mergers of pairs of stellar-mass black holes throughout宇宙。这是可能的，因为搜索考虑了信号的间歇性质，这应该通过与当前搜索相比，通过增加恢复信号幅度的信号噪声比来减少检测时间，该搜索始终假定信号在“始终”上。此外，通过使用随机信号模型，与基于确定性信号的搜索相比，搜索对源的类型更为强大，计算要求更少，该搜索已调整为与二进制黑洞合并相关的特定波形。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的智能效果和广泛的cr croit和广泛的评估来表现出值得评估的支持。

项目成果

A stochastic search for intermittent gravitational-wave backgrounds

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.107.103026
• 发表时间: 2023-01
• 期刊: Physical Review D
• 影响因子: 5
• 作者: J. Lawrence;K. Turbang;A. Matas;A. Renzini;N. van Remortel;J. Romano