This award supports research in relativity and relativistic astrophysics and it addresses the priority areas of NSF's "Windows on the Universe" Big Idea. LIGO (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) has made history by detecting several binary black hole mergers and a binary neutron star merger. The latter was especially exciting because it was also detected by optical and other electromagnetic telescopes and because it provided new insights into the behavior of matter at its greatest extremes since the Big Bang. Detection of continuous gravitational waves from a single neutron star, a faint signal lasting many years, could tell us even more about such matter - how solid it is, how well it conducts heat and electricity, maybe even the existence of exotic states predicted by particle physics. This award supports searches of Advanced LIGO data for continuous gravitational waves from the youngest neutron stars in our galaxy, using existing telescope observations to point toward likely targets. It also supports the training of graduate and undergraduate students who will constitute the next generation of scientists.
Specific science goals are (1) directed searches for young non-pulsing neutron stars such as Cas A, (2) narrow band searches for r-mode oscillations in pulsars such as the Crab, and (3) theoretical guidance and interpretation of searches for continuous gravitational waves, particularly from neutron-star r-modes. Searches will be performed with the Texas Tech group's longstanding code pipeline based on matched filtering, which will be upgraded as the award progresses.
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.
