This project integrates a research program to reveal the extreme nature of gravity and dense matter from gravitational wave observations with outreach events on planetarium shows, public lectures and summer camps to expose the public to frontier research fields in physics. Such an integrated program is extremely timely, as gravitational waves were detected directly for the first time in September 2015 using LIGO, which has long been funded by NSF, and the era of gravitational wave and multimessenger astronomy has begun. The project addresses fundamental questions in gravitational and nuclear physics: (I) Is General Relativity correct in the strong and dynamical field regime of gravity? (II) What is the nature of supranuclear matter? The proposed research establishes a new framework for probing the extreme nature of gravity and dense matter physics with gravitational wave observations. Such a research program will significantly enhance the ability of extracting the scientific return from current and future observations. Understanding the extreme nature of gravity and dense matter may bring implications also to other fields, including particle and high energy physics and cosmology. The outreach part of the project tries to develop public's interests, curiosity and enthusiasms in science by connecting them to the frontier scientific research on gravitational waves through multiple outreach events. Such activities allow the PI and collaborators to directly reach, inspire and excite, in particular, the next generation of scientists.

The research objectives are (i) to maximize the ability of extracting gravitational physics information from the currently-available gravitational wave data, (ii) to consider new sources of gravitational waves as probes of strong and dynamical field gravity and (iii) to reveal how accurately one can determine the equation of state for supranuclear matter with current and future gravitational wave observations. PI Yagi will take the following methodology to achieve the above research goals. On the gravitational physics front, the PI's team will focus on studying corrections away from General Relativity entering in the amplitude of gravitational waveforms that have mostly been neglected. The team will also consider astrophysical stochastic backgrounds as new sources of gravitational waves to probe strong and dynamical field gravity. On the nuclear physics front, PI Yagi and collaborators will carry out a detailed Bayesian parameter estimation study by including spin precession and adopting universal relations for neutron stars that do not depend strongly on the unknown equation of state. They will also study universal relations among tidal parameters and nuclear physics parameters so that one can directly probe the latter with gravitational wave observations. The educational part of the proposal aims at conveying the historical discovery of gravitational waves and the beauty of General Relativity to the public. PI Yagi and collaborators will achieve this goal by displaying a planetarium show created by collaborator Yunes at Montana State University at several different planetarium domes in Virginia, including those at James Madison University and Radford University. The PI and collaborators at James Madison University will also host a summer camp on General Relativity and gravitational waves for middle-school students.

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.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Physics (PHY)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
1806776
Program Officer
Pedro Marronetti
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2018-09-01
Budget End
2021-08-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2018
Total Cost
$210,000
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Virginia
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Charlottesville
State
VA
Country
United States
Zip Code
22904