Windows on the Universe: Establishing the Infrastructure for a Collaborative Multi-messenger Ecosystem

TL;DR

This paper advocates for developing infrastructure to support collaborative multi-messenger and time-domain astronomy, emphasizing coordination, technology, and policy to enable groundbreaking discoveries across cosmic messengers.

Contribution

It provides comprehensive recommendations for building the infrastructure—hardware, software, and policies—needed to advance multi-messenger astronomy in the coming decade.

Findings

Identified key challenges in multi-messenger coordination

Proposed infrastructure solutions for hardware and software

Outlined policy recommendations for international collaboration

Abstract

In this White Paper, we present recommendations for the scientific community and funding agencies to foster the infrastructure for a collaborative multi-messenger and time-domain astronomy (MMA/TDA) ecosystem. MMA/TDA is poised for breakthrough discoveries in the coming decade. In much the same way that expanding beyond the optical bandpass revealed entirely new and unexpected discoveries, cosmic messengers beyond light (i.e., gravitational waves, neutrinos, and cosmic rays) open entirely new windows to answer some of the most fundamental questions in (astro)physics: heavy element synthesis, equation of state of dense matter, particle acceleration, etc. This field was prioritized as a frontier scientific pursuit in the 2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics via its "New Windows on the Dynamic Universe" theme. MMA/TDA science presents technical challenges distinct from those experienced in other disciplines. Successful observations require coordination across myriad boundaries -- different cosmic messengers, ground vs. space, international borders, etc. -- all for sources that may not be well localized, and whose brightness may be changing rapidly with time. Add that all of this work is undertaken by real human beings, with distinct backgrounds, experiences, cultures, and expectations, that often conflict. To address these challenges and help MMA/TDA realize its full scientific potential in the coming decade (and beyond), the second in a series of community workshops sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA titled "Windows on the Universe: Establishing the Infrastructure for a Collaborative Multi-Messenger Ecosystem" was held on October 16-18, 2023 in Tucson, AZ. Here we present the primary recommendations from this workshop focused on three key topics -- hardware, software, and people and policy. [abridged]