Binary systems composed of neutron stars, black holes, or a mixed pair are expected to be some of the most important sources for the upcoming generation of advanced earth-based gravitational wave detectors such as advanced LIGO. Numerous models exist for describing such systems, such as post-Newtonian, phenomenological, Effective One Body ones, and numerical simulations of the full Einstein equations (the field of numerical relativity). Regardless of the model to describe it, the problem suffers from a fairly large dimensionality. Roughly speaking, the number of configurations to study is too large for an exhaustive analysis. For this reason, large regions of the parameter space have been so far unexplored. Under this award, we will engage in a systematic study of the physical parameter space for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences (CBC) using a Reduced Basis approach. Reduced Basis will be used for efficiently selecting within certain physical models for CBC the most relevant regions in parameter space to solve for and analyze, compactly representing the corresponding gravitational waves, and predicting new ones based on such selection.
Reduced Basis modeling is an active area of basic and applied research at the forefront of many fields, from climate studies and weather forecasting to gene classification and hyperspectral imaging. We envision that the techniques we will develop in our gravitational physics research will also find application in other fields. Additionally, as part of our outreach efforts, we will engage students from underrepresented groups. In particular, we will work with students from Howard University (one of the top HBCUs in the country) and give presentations at local Hispanic High Schools such as Cardozo and McCormick.
