“Launching the Cosmic Explorer Conceptual Design”.. This award will establish a Cosmic Explorer Project Office, including systems engineering and management structures. This team will develop the initial Project Execution Plan and the initial Design and Development Plan for Cosmic Explorer. The team will also coordinate related activities funded under different awards and ultimately deliver the science traceability matrix, the initial facility infrastructure concept, and the initial detector reference design for Cosmic Explorer. (NSF Award 2309064)
“Collaborative Research: Identifying and Evaluating Sites for Cosmic Explorer.” This award supports the identification and evaluation of the most promising locations for CE observatories while developing protocols and best practices for large-scale projects to be in partnership with local and Indigenous communities. (NSF Award 2308989)
“Cosmic Explorer Optical Design.” This award will build on the Cosmic Explorer Horizon Study results to deliver parametric conceptual designs for the CE interferometers, iterate these with the CE Science-Driven Design Team, and propagate requirements for other detector systems via the CE Systems Team. (NSF award 2309266)
“Enabling Megawatt Optical Power in Cosmic Explorer.” The objective of this award is to enable laser interferometry at the megawatt scale, by developing the initial design of a Mode Sensing and Control system for Cosmic Explorer capable of overcoming the thermal lensing degradations that limit current detectors. (NSF Awards 2309007)
“Center for Coatings Research” (Stanford University, Syracuse University, University of Florida, American University, Embry-Riddle, University of California, Berkeley, Colorado State University, CSULA, and Hobart and William Swift. This award will enable the Center for Coating Research to pursue coatings for Cosmic Explorer with amplitude thermal noise a factor of two below the A+ design target. This will involve studies of theoretical models, structure determination methods, deposition methods, and macroscopic characterization tools. For crystalline coatings, the Center will investigate issues accessible with small substrates, including ultimate Brownian noise limits, thermo-optically/elastically compensated designs, point absorbers and thermal damage, induced birefringence, and non-Brownian noise sources, in parallel with issues in scaling to required sizes. (NSF Award 2309296)
“Detector Technology for Gravitational-Wave Astrophysics.” This award supports technology development for terrestrial gravitational-wave detectors like Advanced LIGO and Cosmic Explorer, addressing the priority areas of NSF’s “Windows on the Universe” Big Idea. The project tackles the most limiting noise in terrestrial gravitational-detectors: quantum noise, thermal noise, and the numerous actuator-related noise couplings at low frequency. Its goals are to enable Advanced LIGO to overcome the current quantum and thermal noise limitations, and to collaborate with the LIGO Laboratory to address the diverse noise sources at low frequencies, enabling gravitational-wave detectors to continue to unravel the mysteries of the universe. Specifically, this award is funding i) Developing and deploying of novel phase front sensors for characterizing and controlling the optical wave front in gravitational-wave interferometers with a high arm cavity laser power, ii) Support for commissioning high power operations and improved sensitivity for Advanced LIGO A+ in preparation for the O4 and O5 observation runs, and iii) Research and design work for integrating new crystalline optical coatings (AlGaAs), test mass actuators and wave front control elements into post-O5 Advanced LIGO and Cosmic Explorer. (NSF Award 2207640 )
“Gravitational-Wave Astronomy and Astrophysics at Syracuse University.” This award supports the development of new gravitational-wave search algorithms that will lay the foundation for the next generation and open a window to the discovery of new classes of merging binaries. Developing these algorithms will also equip students with the skills needed to enhance the competitiveness of the U.S. STEM workforce. This research investigates multi-detector coherent search algorithms that take advantage of Bayesian tools developed for gravitational-wave astronomy. The optimal approach to detect gravitational-wave sources is a fully Bayesian analysis that can coherently combine gravitational-wave data from multiple detectors and accurately model both gravitational-wave signals and detector noise which may contain non-Gaussian transient noise. (NSF Award 2309240 )
“The CSUF-led partnership for inclusion of underrepresented groups in gravitational-wave astronomy.” This award supports the establishment of a research and education pathway program with the core mission to significantly increase the number of students from underrepresented groups, in particular Hispanic and Latino/a students, with post-baccalaureate degrees in gravitational-wave astrophysics. This program will substantially strengthen an existing collaboration between California State University Fullerton (CSUF), a primarily undergraduate Hispanic-Serving Institution, and three Ph.D.-granting partners: Syracuse University, Northwestern University, and Washington State University (WSU). This program will develop a clear pathway for CSUF students to enter the Ph.D. program at one of the partner universities, including financial and academic support as they transition, thereby providing students with a long-term road map for their STEM careers. It will further ensure that admitted students complete the Ph.D. degree and facilitate their becoming leaders in gravitational-wave astrophysics by providing sustained mentoring and actively fostering partnership opportunities. (NSF Award 2219109 )
“Understanding the Long-term Evolution of Tidal Disruption Events.” This award is for understanding how the debris from tidal disruption events (stars destroyed by black holes) evolves well after the star is destroyed, as well as the properties of partial tidal disruption events, in which part of the star survives the encounter intact. (NSF Award 2006684 )
“Continued Swift Monitoring of Repeating Stellar Tidal Disruption Events: Towards a Legacy Dataset.” This award is to support understanding the nature of a star repeatedly stripped of mass by a supermassive black hole, and to test the models that we have with observations. (NASA Award 1922148)