There was certainly considerable excitement when NSF included Windows on the Universe among their 10 Big Ideas. It has brought prominence to a problem near and dear to our community. However, concerns have been raised over whether NSF is providing sufficient support to the theory side of Multi-Messenger Astronomy. The recent awarding of the N3AS Physics Frontier Center certainly helps to support some of the nuclear and particle physics theory that is important to Multi-Messenger Astronomy.
However, concerns continue to be raised if additional support is needed for the simulations that tie the nuclear, particle and gravitational physics to the observations. In particular, since the MMA observations generally reflect very different epochs in the astronomical event, it has been suggested that these is a need for a coordinated network of simulations to connect the progenitor systems to the epoch of the neutrino and gravitational wave signals and on to the epochs of the gamma-ray, x-ray, UVOIR and radio observations.
In order to explore these needs, we are convening a project-scoping workshop to bring together the multiple constituencies that contribute to Multi-Messenger Astronomy to ask the question "What do needs to be done in theory and computation in order to extract the most science from the Multi-Messenger Astronomy observations that will come in the next 10+ years?"
Because of the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, we will begin our community discussion process with an online workshop December 9 and 11, 2020
For details of Meeting 1.We plan to follow up the online workshop with more extensive, in-person workshop in the late Spring or Summer of 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic allows.
For details of Meeting 2.