Data Handling and Analysis Infrastructure for Gravitational-Wave Astronomy

Gravitational waves and black holes are among the most dramatic predictions of Einstein's General theory of Relativity. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) is an ambitious NSF-funded project designed to directly detect gravitational waves and to use these waves to explore the universe. LIGO forms part of a world-wide network of gravitational-wave observatories that studies black holes, neutron stars, supernovae and the early universe using gravitational-waves as a new astronomical tool.

With the first observation of gravitational waves, a binary black hole merger seen by LIGO on 14 September 2015, we entered the era of gravitational-wave astronomy. Since then, LIGO has completed three observing runs, announced 50 compact binary merger observations and published more than 100 observational papers. The scientific goals of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) rely on a substantial computational infrastructure, which spans astrophysical data analysis, detector and analysis middleware, software sustainability, and computational hardware support.

Such cyber-infrastructure is as essential to gravitational-wave astronomy as the detectors themselves. It is not possible to detect gravitational-wave sources or study their properties without the enabling computational technologies. This award supports the cyber-infrastructure needed to deliver the transformational new science that LIGO and gravitational-wave observations enable.

The success of gravitational-wave astronomy is predicated upon the timely analysis of a continuous stream of observational data from a distributed network of observatories: the two LIGO detectors, the French-Italian Virgo detector, the Japanese KAGRA detector, and eventually LIGO-India. The size and structure of the LSC present unique challenges in creating and maintaining the cyber-infrastructure needed for gravitational-wave astronomy.

Almost 1400 scientists at more than 100 different institutions contribute to LIGO's scientific mission and the LSC continues to grow at an accelerating pace. The computational needs of these scientists are served by the LIGO Data Grid (LDG), a distributed facility that hosts the middleware and support needed to turn a collection of computer clusters into a powerful data analysis engine.

This award supports the skilled personnel to support and maintain the LDG and deliver the substantial improvements in services, scalability and reliability needed to sustain the scientific return from LIGO. The primary goals of this project are: to deliver the software infrastructure and LDG services to support gravitational-wave astronomy with LIGO and its international partners; to provide the cyber-infrastructure needed to bring gravitational-wave astronomy together with the broader astronomical community; and to support open access to LIGO data for the scientific community and the public.

This research program will train students and postdocs to be experts in next-generation cyber-infrastructure, push the boundaries of LIGO's geographically distributed, locally-available computational data grid, and sustain the operation of this cyber-infrastructure to support LIGO's science mission. Collaborations with external partners (including Condor and OSG) will continue to have significant impact outside the LSC.

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.