LIGO Student Fellowship Program for AY 2009 - 2010
LIGO Laboratory invites students to submit applications for participation
in the LIGO Student Fellowship Program. This program provides two
fellowships each year, awarded to students within the LIGO Scientific
Collaboration (LSC) with a strong interest in instrumentation science.
Students who are interested in committing to spend one year at either LIGO
observatory to pursue a significant instrument project are encouraged to
apply. The Fellowship will provide each student with
- A $5000 stipend
- Support for travel to the site and two trips to the students home institution
- Support for incremental living expenses related to being at the site.
This fellowship is competitive and is open to all students in the LSC who wish to develop an expertise in instrument science, including those already in residence at an observatory.
The Program is intended to encourage the long-term presence at an Observatory needed for a student to gain experience and to successfully complete a significant instrumentation project. Identification of a mentor at an Observatory, and a project that is significant to LIGO and of interest to the Observatory staff, is, therefore, an important aspect of a successful application.
Observatory contacts this year are Dr. Brian O'Reilly at LIGO Livingston Observatory and Dr. Mike Landry at LIGO Hanford Observatory. Students and/or their advisors are invited to coordinate with the appropriate Observatory contact for assistance with preparation of the proposal. The observatory contact can help identify a possible on-site mentor, indicate whether the project being proposed fits into the needs or capabilities at an observatory, and provide information on possible projects that are of interest to the observatory staff.
Proposal submission details:
- Brief curriculum vitae: Under two pages
- Research proposal: A plan for the research project to be carried out at the Observatory with a description of the project, its significance to LIGO, why it is desirable to carry out this project at an Observatory, the resources needed to carry out the project, and an indication of others who would be involved in the project (e.g. mentors, collaborators, etc.). The proposal should be no more than three pages in length.
- Recommendation letter: A letter of recommendation, preferably from the students thesis advisor, that includes a commitment of support for the student during the year at the Observatory.
- Application due date: October 01, 2009, to be submitted electronically to Nelson Christensen (nelson.christensen@ligo.org)
- Proposals will be evaluated by a committee consisting of members of the LIGO Academic Advisory Council and a representative from each Observatory. Results will be announced shortly after October 01, 2009.
Possible projects:
Below are some short descriptions of possible projects for the LIGO Student Fellowship Program; of course other projects are also possible and will be considered. For further details please contact the observatory contacts or the members of the LAAC.
- Noise transients (glitch) Search: The student will work with the
glitch group and site experts to hunt down causes of noise transients.
Experience with burst and CBC searches will be particularly useful to
identify glitch morphologies that limit the sensitivity of those
searches; the ultimate goal is to improve confidence in a potential
detection.
The work will include interpreting the data outputs used by the glitch group, learning how to use ligoDV and omegaScans, interpret veto study results, as well as control-room software, to follow up on loud glitches in the data and track down sources, with guidance from site experts. - S6 Noise Line Search : Work with the DetChar Lines team, to track
down lines in the data.
Experience with stochastic and pulsar searches will be useful in identifying lines that appear in those searches; working with site experts the student will look for couplings across channels and track down lines. The data analysis tools that will be used are FScan and coherence measurements. Measurements will be made (using magnetometers, microphones, accelerometers, etc) in the laboratory in the attempt to find and eliminate the noise lines. - Advanced LIGO SEI/SUS testing and loop design: Advanced LIGO seismic isolation and optic suspension subsystems are new and complex technologies that must be understood prior to deployment in vacuum envelopes. Assembly, testing and loop design are required on these setups including HEPI (hydraulic external pre-isolation), BSC and HAM ISI (internal active seismic tables), and passive and active optic suspension systems (SUS). By working with these systems the student will become familiar with the new "borkspace" controls and will be well positioned to participate fully in the early commissioning of Advanced LIGO systems, either the single-arm commissioning proposed for LHO or the Michelson commissioning proposed for LLO.
- Calibration studies: Assessment of the length sensitivity of interferometers requires careful modeling and measurement in order to better understand systematic errors. Comsol modeling of deformations of realistic masses with wedges and magnets may explain observed systematics in calibration models at high frequencies. Measurements with existing photon calibrators and designs for Advanced LIGO versions can better establish the actuation strength of the test masses, setting the length scale for displacement-equivalent noise to high precision.
- Commissioning measurements: During the S6 science run, detectors will be periodically taken out of observing mode to commission hardware and software components. Students involved in commissioning endeavor to improve detector noise or machine stability or both. An example of such a project (one that requires significant on-site presence) is the active suppression of coupling from auxiliary interferometer control loops to the main (differential) mode of gravitational wave-detection.
- Commissioning measurements: The interferometer noise, in the crucial 50-300 Hz band, is often compromised by noise from the auxiliary control loops (Michelson, power recycling, and angular controls). The project will be to remove this noise through offline data manipulation (e.g. Weiner filter based subtraction) to improve the sensitivity for the S5 data. Additionally, the existing feed-forward systems will be tuned to remove this noise at the hardware level to reduce these noise sources in the S5 data. These techniques will then be applied to the Advanced LIGO design.
- Environmental noise mitigation: The DC Readout system used for Enhanced LIGO is new, and as such, is largely uncharacterized. Substantial improvements in the sensitivity (both stationary spectrum and transient rates) can be had by investigating and then mitigating these environmental noise sources (e.g. magnetic, seismic, RF radiation, acoustic, etc.).
- Optics Characterization: absorption of the laser light on the test masses and scattering of light from the mirror surface leads to a degradation of the GW signal and an increase in the coupling of technical noise sources. For Advanced LIGO, we require a pristine environment for our mirrors and solid characterization of the degradation with time. This project will involve modeling of the interferometer, measurement of the time dependence of the absorption in the mirror coatings, and characterization of the scattered light distribution from the mirror surface. This information will be used to inform the Advanced LIGO design and commissioning plan.