The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will be a transformative experiment for gravitational wave astronomy, and, as such, it will offer unique opportunities to address many key astrophysical questions in a completely novel way. The synergy with ground-based and space-born instruments in the electromagnetic domain, by enabling multi-messenger observations, will add further to the discovery potential of LISA. The next decade is crucial to prepare the astrophysical community for LISA’s first observations. This review outlines the extensive landscape of astrophysical theory, numerical simulations, and astronomical observations that are instrumental for modeling and interpreting the upcoming LISA datastream. To this aim, the current knowledge in three main source classes for LISA is reviewed; ultra-compact stellar-mass binaries, massive black hole binaries, and extreme or interme-diate mass ratio inspirals. The relevant astrophysical processes and the established modeling techniques are summarized. Likewise, open issues and gaps in our understanding of these sources are highlighted, along with an indication of how LISA could help making progress in the different areas. New research avenues that LISA itself, or its joint exploitation with upcoming studies in the electromagnetic domain, will enable, are also illustrated. Improvements in modeling and analysis approaches, such as the combination of numerical simulations and modern data science techniques, are discussed. This review is intended to be a starting point for using LISA as a new discovery tool for understanding our Universe.

激光干涉仪空间天线（LISA）将是引力波天文学的一项变革性实验，因此，它将提供独特的机会，以一种全新的方式解决许多关键的天体物理问题。通过实现多信使观测，与电磁领域的地基和星载仪器的协同作用将进一步增加 LISA 的发现潜力。未来十年对于天体物理学界为 LISA 的首次观测做好准备至关重要。这篇综述概述了天体物理理论、数值模拟和天文观测的广泛领域，这些领域有助于建模和解释即将推出的 LISA 数据流。为此，回顾了 LISA 三个主要来源类别的当前知识；超紧凑恒星质量双星、大质量黑洞双星以及极端或中等质量比螺旋。总结了相关的天体物理过程和已建立的建模技术。同样，我们对这些来源的理解中存在的未决问题和差距也得到了强调，同时也指出了 LISA 如何帮助在不同领域取得进展。还说明了 LISA 本身或其与电磁领域即将进行的研究的联合开发将实现的新研究途径。讨论了建模和分析方法的改进，例如数值模拟和现代数据科学技术的结合。这篇评论旨在成为使用 LISA 作为了解我们的宇宙的新发现工具的起点。