This research project will focus on a number of areas related to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Experiment: 1) co-leading the ongoing collaboration search for continuous gravitational waves; 2) developing new algorithms for detecting quasi-periodic sources from both isolated and binary neutron stars and 3) detector characterization of Advanced LIGO interferometers focused on spectral line identification and mitigation. The work to be carried out thus includes both searching in existing LIGO data for evidence of rapidly spinning, non-axisymmetric neutron stars in our galactic neighborhood and preparations for searches in the far more sensitive data expected from Advanced LIGO.
Discovery of gravitational waves from astrophysical objects will mark a major milestone in science, simultaneously confirming one of the fundamental predictions of gravitational physics, while opening up an entirely new field of astronomy. The detection of such waves from rotating neutron stars would be especially interesting because many such sources are expected to continue emitting for long durations, allowing follow-up investigation of increasing precision, and because it is believed that these waves will provide insight into the poorly known structure of these exotic stars. The research to be carried out, on both the instrumental and analytical sides, will provide training to undergraduate and graduate students in state-of-the-art science at the frontier of knowledge.
