Expanding interdisciplinary research at the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy

The University Of Texas At Brownsville, Brownsville TX

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this CREST proposal is to further strengthen the University of Texas at Brownsville's mission of research and education in gravitational wave (GW) astronomy and, by increasing the participation of underrepresented groups, maintain national competitiveness in this area of fundamental physics. This will be achieved by a multi-disciplinary, synergistic combination of sub-projects in three areas that are critical to the success of GW astronomy: data analysis, detector characterization, and astrophysics. The proposed sub-projects, which focus on ground-based GW astronomy in the 10 to 1000 Hz band, will combine with existing activities in low and ultra-low frequency GW detection to create a unique research group in GW astronomy. The goals of each sub-project are timely and in tune with the ongoing developments in GW astronomy. Under data analysis, optimal ways of combining data from a worldwide network of detectors will be developed in order to enable better sensitivity and new science. Methods will be developed to overcome computational bottlenecks in searches for continuous GW sources and for the analysis of data for specific astrophysical models. Novel GW data analysis tools will be developed by adapting promising results from other disciplines. Detector characterization projects will develop sophisticated data mining and automated knowledge discovery tools that will enable GW experimentalists and data analysts to better understand both the detectors and the data. In the astrophysics sub-project, the project will seek to understand LIGO's observational capability in the study of intermediate-mass black hole formation and explore the potential of pulsars as probes of the massive black hole at the Galactic center.