CAREER: An Integrated Research and Education Program in Gravitational-Wave Phenomenology

Washington State University, Pullman WA

Investigators

Abstract

A multi-disciplinary program in gravitational wave (GW) science that integrates cutting-edge research with education at various levels will be established at the Washington State University (WSU). This is motivated largely by the onset of observational runs undertaken by five GW detectors around the world, including two of the three detectors of the NSF-funded Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) located at Hanford, near WSU. Data analysis strategies for searching GW signals from a variety of astrophysical and cosmological sources with a network of detectors operating simultaneously will be formulated as part of this program. A multi-detector analysis is significant owing to the most powerful veto it levies against instrumental artifacts and the additional source properties it unravels. Gravitational-wave science oriented courses and lab experiments will be included to enhance WSU's astronomy program and to develop the infrastructure required for a quick transfer of knowledge. Sophomores and seniors, numbering about 200 per year, will be trained to develop skills in a field that will soon be inundated with data, with the hope that some of them will go on to graduate programs strongly tied to GW research. Courses in GW science will be cross-listed towards a major in physics, thus expanding their impact. LIGO will be supported by this work in ushering in a new era in Physics and Astronomy where novel insights will be gained into the behavior of pulsars, supernovae and black holes, and in putting our best understanding of classical gravity, in the form of Einstein's general relativity, to a fresh set of stringent tests.