Weekly Report for Week Ending January 17, 2002

The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday  January 21, 2002 will be:

There will be no Executive Committee Meeting on Monday, January 21 because of the holiday.

Special Announcements:

Weekly Report Highlights

The E7 data collection was stopped at noon CST this Monday.

LSC Issues (Weiss)

No report.

Next LSC Executive Committee meeting
-------------------------------------
Friday Jan 25, 2002 at 11:00AM ET (Please note change of day)

LIGO I Construction/LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

A Site Teleconference was held on Thursday, January 17, 2002.  Discussion centered on the status FY 2002 costs-to-date, of NSF funding and the Cooperative Agreement, the establishment and budgeting of FY 2002 accounts, the FY 2002 Financial Reporting format, as well as the status of the construction at the two sites.  Administration is moving towards restructuring the overhead application for fabricated equipment.  The biggest effect for LIGO will probably be for facilities fabricated for intended eventual Government ownership.  Florence will be assessing the impact of the changes as best she can given that the information available is limited.

A review of the recent E7 Engineering Run is scheduled for February 4 in place of the Executive Committee Meeting.  Mark Coles and Fred Raab will be requested to summarize lessons learned.

The list of current actions revised to reflect the status of open actions assigned through January 17, 2001 may be found at ACTION LIST.

From: Ed Chargois <chargois_e@ligo.caltech.edu>

• Submitted Documentation to re-direct a loss Vacuum Pump Cart originally scheduled for LHO (K. Ryan), This equipment arrived a CIT on 1/2/02 no one at LIGO was notified of the misdirect shipment. The vendor BOC Edwards is paying for the shipping Acct # EDHVABUFF002.
• Assisted the Detector Group (H. Armandula) with the packing and shipping of six (6) Substrates Serial Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, and 10, to MIT (G. Harry) via Federal Express 2 day Economy Rate Account Number P15774
• Assisted the Detector Group (J. Romie) with the packing of 100 Clamps individually wrapped (items are not serialized) and shipped to LHO (B. Rivera) via Federal Express. Account Number P204247.
• Assisted the Detector Group (H. Armandula with the packing and shipping of nine (9) Substrates Serial Numbers 0290,0342,0363,5046,5624,5635,5696, 5697 and 5716 to MLD Technologies (Don Curry) of Eugene , OR via Federal Express 2 day Economy Rate. Account Number P157746.

>From: Linda Turner - turner@ligo.caltech.edu>

Web pages for the DCC give simple how-to's for document numbering, easy access to the latest on-line documents, and search capabilities for the DCC database. Take a look. . .

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Worked at reorganizing my office and assessing some of the many piles of paper and boxes of documents that have accumulated in the last several months.  While doing so, went through about 3 boxes of documents left behind by various staff members no longer on the project.  Found numerous documents, many of contractual nature, that never had been submitted to the DCC.  This was a bit disconcerting as there are roughly  30 boxes of documents left from various individuals' departures. REMINDER TO LIGO STAFF:   Please continue to submit documents in a timely manner.  Inheriting volumes of paper months or years down the road puts a tremendous strain on the limited resources of the DCC to process and make accessible documents that are important for retrieval.
• Assembled monthly budget summary pages of 5M501 from 1995-2000 for the DCAA audit.
• Rearranged some storage in the sub-basement to accommodate the influx of file boxes for processing/storage.
• Continued research on a fax machine replacement that will bring faxes in electronically, automatically routing to individual staff folders.
• Continued the task of scanning the last few months of the IFIS reports.  It appears that there are about 11 months left to scan before I begin burning CDs of the whole lot.  Then we can finally ditch the tons of paper currently stored in the ECR.
• Continued work on an article for the February LIGO newsletter.

ACTIVITY

• Assisted in clearing out Larry Jones' office.  Made labels (listing contents) for the 16 boxes of documentation accumulated.  Transported these 16 boxes to storage in the sub-basement.
• Assisted in locating and photocopying documentation for audit support.
• Progress continues on conversion of old charge account files to electronic form.
• Electronic document activity was very busy for this period.

 


01/10/02	Packages	Faxes
In	32	39
Out	9	48

From: Esther Cunningham <esther@ligo.caltech.edu>

Press here for ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HISTORY DATA .

From: "Brambila, Ruth" <Ruth.Brambila@caltech.edu>

• Working on transferring funds from FY2001 to FY2002 on the subcontracts.  Yakama, Thomas Staffing, Butler, Benton County, MCI, Heritage Landscape, MIT, Viking Office, Siemens, and Burns have been transferred. I am currently working on Excel, and Support Services.
• MIT's C/O 15 was submitted to management for signatures and is awaiting approvals. I understand that General Counsel must also approve it as it crosses the 8 million dollar benchmark.
• Have several FY2001 transfers to FY2002 I need to accomplish.
• Prepared the RFQ for the AV system for the LLO Observatory. Sending out the Addendum today.

• All financial reports as of the end of December have been posted on the network.
• Will begin working on cost transfers required from fiscal period 2001 accounts to the fiscal year 2002 accounts.

 
• The reports can be found at: http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport

From: irena@ligo.caltech.edu (Irena Petrac)

• MIT: CO No. 15, incrementing funds for Dec., Jan., and Feb., was released to Purchasing. An advanced copy of the authorizing PR was faxed to MIT.
• SLU: CO No. 02, reflecting the appointment of Dr. Yoshida to faculty status and associated reduction in required LIGO cost-share (to cover FY '02 and '03 summer appointments only), was released to Purchasing.
• HPD: CO No. 05, for a no-cost extension of the performance period through end of May, 2002 was released to Purchasing..

CONSTRUCTION:

• A pre-bid conference was held on Tuesday, January 15, for the audio/visual equipment for the Livingston Staging Building auditorium. Three contractors attended and received copies of the Invitation for Bid. The contractors then toured the facility and reviewed the installation requirements. During the tour, it was discovered that the junction boxes for the LCD projectors were in the rear walls instead of the ceiling. After lengthy discussion, it was agreed to issue an addendum to the IFB which would require the A/V contractor to run conduit from the wall junction boxes to the ceiling, where mounting plates would be installed behind the tiles, and the projectors could be mounted from the ceiling as originally planned. The addendum will be issued on Thursday, January 17, with bids scheduled to be received Tuesday, January 29.
• Ed Jasnow attended the weekly construction meeting in Livingston on the Staging Building. Several items remaining to be performed were discussed with the president of Brunt Construction, Michael Ragusa. These were further emphasized in a walkthrough of the building. The revised schedule calls for completion of the building by March 1, 2002.

• The performance of the sites during the E7 run will be discussed in a special "lessons learned" session to be given by the two site heads, Fred Raab and Mark Coles, on Monday, February 4. This will lead to a discussion of 24/7 operations to be held at the Site Teleconference scheduled for Thursday, February 7.

SUPPORT

Irene Baldon

• Processed the paper work for six (6) new/revised trips. I have nine (9) trips in various stages of completion before ticketing can be done and paper work completed.
• Completed twenty-four (24) Expense Reports and there are three (3) reports yet to be done. I'm not holding any reports requiring checks to close at this time. I have two (2) 2001 trips still outstanding. Each traveler has been contacted and I'm told they are on the way.
• Reconciled twenty-eight (28) items on my P-Card, requiring numerous telephone calls to vendors to track down which traveler incurred each charge.
• I'm waiting for further information and scheduling of a meeting with Montrose. As of today I have not heard further. I'll keep everyone posted as new information becomes available to me.
• Worked on the preparation and distribution of the Travel/Vacation Itineraries for January 14, 2002. Performed normal recording and filing associated with Travel and Reimbursement. Also performed miscellaneous duties as requested by various members of the LIGO Project here at Caltech as well as from members of the staffs of each of the two (2) sites.
• I continue to do MIT's travel to the sites for installation activities and also to assist them wherever possible.

• Concentrated on coordination of transferring contracts, blankets and POs to FY02 POETAs with Ruth and Gina. There are approximately 18-25 invoices on hold pending these changes, with invoices coming in daily. Followed up on a couple of invoice problems.
• There were a small amount of reqs that came in this week and they were processed as usual, with Gina and Ruth working them in between the FY02 transfers.
• Jim is now working for the DCC in the mornings and with me in the afternoons.

• Scanned LSC documents for CACR and Penn State, and updated the database with their respective Attachments Z. Please note: The software for the 3rd floor scanner has changed so that I must now crop the output pages. This caused me to re-record some files as I adjusted to the new method. Formatted three reports from Stanford, then assigned LIGO numbers before submitting to the DCC.
• Sent out a test version of the LIGO Roster, am now collecting responses regarding errors and corrections to the data.
• Completed the electronic travelers to 49 boards that will ship from Wilson House. Prepared a couple more travelers for boards to ship from Bridge.
• Along with V. Kondrashov, helped prepare name badges for participants of workshops taking place 1/18 & 1/19. Title: Project Science Workshop Management of Large Scientific Projects.
• Arranged a few telecons. Updated site trips. Helped to box files from the office space that was Fred Asiri's.
• Placed a few Pcard orders and reconciled some, did a total of 11 this period.

Advanced LIGO (Frey)

Progress Period from 01.11 to 01.17

Accomplishments:

• Weekly Advanced LIGO Project Controls meeting was not held this week.  Sent out request to schedule a date for January as requested by Gary Sanders.  Still waiting for date to be set.
• Advanced LIGO MRE Proposal (Highest Priority)
• Continuing the development of the Cost Estimate.
• Continue to pursue all other sub system schedules.
• Updated web site with latest data.
• The following is a summary of status by sub system:
• COC - Work on action items per second review continues.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• PSL - Issued cost and resource loaded reports and awaiting comments.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• AOS - Work on action items continues.  Inputting / reviewing data provided by David S.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• IO -  Work on action items continues.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• SUS - Working with SUS group to incorporate current comments.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• SEI - Work on action items continues.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• ISC - Continue to review data.
• All other subsystems have yet to be scheduled for their first review.  These dates are pending per direction from Gary Sanders and Dennis Coyne.
• Continue to update the TNI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Updated the plan with progress as of 01.11.02 and  posted to site.
• Sent out update data requests for progress as of 02.01.02.
• Continue to update the LASTI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Updated the plan with progress as of 01.11.02 and  posted to site.
• Sent out update data requests for progress as of 02.01.02.
• Project Plan for the 40-Meter Lab Upgrade continues.
• Updated the plan with progress as of 01.11.02 and  posted to site.
• Sent out update data requests for progress as of 02.01.02.
• Continue to test the Cost Book Tool.
• ROSTER DATABASE:
• Continued work on procedures for data gathering.
• Continue working with Rita to input the roster data.  Assisted Rita with some responses to her test run / request for data.
• COST BOOK DATABASE:
• Continue to run tests on reports using other sub-system data.
• Continue review of changes and updates to procedures / online help.
• Cost Calculation Review received from BK.  In process of making corrections as she has noted and rerunning tests.
• Mapping and formatting of OPS cost data for input on hold pending finalization of co-operative agreement.
• DCAA - Prepared 3 revised transmittals at the request of PL for responses to DCAA requests.
• Followed-up on incident with Primavera regarding actual finish dates for finish milestones being dropped from the update files through email. (No Change or Solution yet).
• Development of the Advanced LIGO Project Controls Guidebook continues.
• Project Web Site for posting schedule and progress related data continues to be updated with the latest and greatest.
• See http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/index.html

• Next weekly Advanced LIGO Project Controls meeting to be scheduled.  Date to be set for month of January.
• Advanced LIGO MRE Proposal (Highest Priority Task)
• Highest priority is the development of the Cost Estimate.
• Will continue to pursue all other sub system schedules.
• PSL - Will schedule next meeting.
• AOS - Continue inputting changes to and prepare for next meeting TBD. (New data from David to be input).
• IO - Continue inputting changes to and prepare for next meeting TBD.
• SUS - Continue inputting changes to and prepare for next meeting TBD.
• SEI - Continue inputting changes and prepare for next meeting TBD.
• COC - Work on action items by Garilynn continues.  Anticipate schedule changes prior to next meeting TBD.
• ISC - Finish review of data.  Input data and change WBS as requested.
• Will issue updated meeting minutes for every subsystem as action items from most recent review are completed.
• Will Continue to update the TNI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 02.01.02 and  post to site by the 7th.
• Will Continue to update the LASTI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 02.01.02 and  post to site by the 7th.
• Will continue updating the 40 meter schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 02.01.02 and  post to site by the 7th.
• Roster Database
• Will continue work on actions items.
Cost Book Tool development continues.  (Highest Priority Task)
• Will continue ops cost data input when available.
• Will continue to work with BK importing data and executing action items.
• Will continue to provide support to PL for DCAA audit.
• Will continue the development of the Advanced LIGO Project Web Site.
• Will continue the development of the Advanced LIGO Project Controls Guide Book.

We are doing a standard Annual Report for the Construction Project as of the end of November.  I have received all expected contributions and am working on the report.  This effort has been interrupted to work on responses to DCAA Audit requests.

The following change request has been submitted:
 

Press for the latest Contingency Needs Projection. 

From: Cindy Akutagawa <cindy@ligo.caltech.edu>

• Working with Rita Torres on updating the LIGO personnel directory (Roster).  Rita will be doing all the updating from now on.
• Various personnel/payroll /HR related work.

Quality/Safety (Tyler)

No report this week.

LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) Operations (Raab)

2K PSL: (Doug & Rick) We are making preparations to increase the 2K PSL power into the IFO from 1 Watt to 6 Watts. We peaked up the laser alignments, Reference Cavity and pre-mode cleaner visibilities. We are installing added attenuation to the ISC/IO tables to maintain the same light levels on WFSs and to set light levels to the trigger  PDs etc. We are placing the light pipes back over the beam path on the 2k PSL . We have added a BNC bulkhead terminal strip to the 2K PSL table and terminated all the CCD cameras and PDs outputs.  This gives a central point for measurements without the risk of changing alignments when connecting/disconnecting cables. We have cleaned up some of the wire routing on the tables as well.

I will be installing the laser safety shutters on the PSL tables and wiring in the PSL shutters soon to complete the laser safety hardware installation. We will do a final walk through, approve the new SOP, begin training and final commissioning as time allows.

Facility: (Otto) Only the slopped portion of the auditorium floor is not concreted. All the other floors for the building have the slab on grade. There is only a very minor work left on all the utilities. All the pipes, wires and conduits are in the ground and back filled only a few connections need to be made. We are expecting structural steel to arrive on site the 11th of February.

LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO) Operations (Coles)

CDS: Upgrading the control room machines to Solaris 8. Working on the CDS Red book for Livingston. Also today we are working to change the time server back to the True Time Server in the mass storage room. I will also look into changing the bad disk on the Frame Builder. Downloaded a software patch for london to deal with latest security issue with the CDE desktop on solaris. Completed the CDS diagnostics medm screens and epics interface for the mass storage room machines. This needs to be added to the checklist. (Cheithan)

GC: We are working with LSU to put the final touches on the installation of our new router and firewall.We are doing some maintenance and upgrading on our servers, which had been on hold over the E7 run.

Detector/Technical Support (Whitcomb, Coyne)

40 Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)

Bill Tyler et al have completed a draft of the 40m Annual LIGO Safety Audit Report. We have already acted on their primary recommendations, and will act on them all before long. A response (to questions, etc) is being formulated.

PSL (Abbott, Ugolini, Vass, Smith, King): Our PSL 126MOPA laser power is now down to 2.5 watts. We hope to swap it for a newly refurbished 700 mW NPRO, early next week, with Peter King's help. Soon thereafter, we will re-layout our PSL table, with new mode matching lenses and new layout for the beam diagnostics.

Suspensions (Romie): The mechanical parts for the SOS suspensions have been cleaned and baked at LHO, and are now back at our lab.

Mode cleaner sensing and control:

• Smith: The optical layout and a parts-list was finalized; purchase requisitions were generated for the following beams on the external optical tables: IO, IMC_R, IMC_T. Mike has drawings for all LIGO-designed parts, and will draw up the new custom parts; most notably, the periscope assembly from the PSL table to the IFO.
• Heefner (from last week): The wiring diagrams for the IO ASC and LSC are complete and have been sent around for comments. Parts are being ordered. Fabrication will begin after the suspension racks are complete.
• The IO ASC controls scheme (digital) requires a redesign of the PZT driver for the input mirrors. The change mostly involves the addition of a front panel connector for the inputs. Anyone knowing of any other desired changes for the driver should let Jay know in the next 2 weeks.
• Rich Abbott came by to talk about, and inventory, all the parts needed for the IO LSC, and in the future, the full IFO LSC.

• The suspension wiring diagrams for the 40m suspensions (3 MC optics and 7 core optics) are ostensibly complete. The final copy has been reviewed by Alan and his suggestions have been incorperated.
• Electronics for the 40m suspensions are still moving along. I have made a list of all the parts that are needed from modules down to connectors and cables (including the IO LSC/ASC). A big order went out for VMIC modules. Ben is working with Todd Etzel to keep the flow going, and to ascribe priority to the near-term modules.
• Some cabling is being shipped to Ben from Hanford to help in the 40m efforts.

• Cardenas: The bake oven dedicated for Fluorel parts has been baked again at 182C for 48 hours and it is cooling down. We'll RGA the oven again to compare notes with previous RGA scan. Then it will be leak check again.
• Fluorel parts given to me by Larry Jones are in process of being cleaned as procedure (E960022).
• We are waiting for the pictures/schematics of bake oven plumbing from LHO (Kyle) so we can make the same for the two new bake oven. Bob Taylor has ordered casters for the new bake ovens as well as some other miscellaneous parts needed for the lab.
• I requested to have installed a PC in the south annex for the new Dycor RGA PC version. Mike Pedraza will complete the installation by January 22. A purchase requisition for two new complete turbo pump station from VARIAN has been submitted. These new pump stations will be dedicated for the two new bake oven.
• Bob has been cleaning up and organizing the South Annex lab, making room for all the bake ovens.

• We continue to explore how to get the particle count in the lab to be less strongly correlated with the outside air.
• We received 5 of the 9 optical viewports from Cascade Optical; they scratched some of the others, and have to repolish them. The tilted flanges for these windows are completed at CES.
• We expect shipment of the connectors and feedthrough flanges for the in-vacuum cabling, from MDC, by next week. Larry has asked Todd Etzel to have the cables built and tested, in time to be cleaned and baked for installation in March.
• Larry is assembling loads of in-vacuum equipment (assembled cables, feedthrough flanges, cable clamps, optical port flanges & windows, hardware) to be shipped to Hanford for clean and bake. In the next couple of months, Bob Taylor will be able to clean and bake small loads here at Caltech.
• Larry continues to convert his hundreds of IDEAS mech drawings to ACad.
• We shoot for installing the 2 remaining seismic stacks, all in-vacuum cables, clamps, feedthroughs, optical ports in March.
• A computer projector has been installed in the 40m control room.

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Libbrecht)

Since our last report we have made progress in a number of different areas.  We have ruled out two candidate noise sources in the North Arm cavity: OSEM controller electronic noise and "defocus" noise in the photodetector.  We received the fourth and final sapphire optic from Crystal Systems and shipped all of the optics off to REO to be coated.  Flavio Nocera was kind enough to build us three more notch filters for the South cavity.  And we further reduced the laser frequency noise by increasing the gain of the mode-cleaner servo, with the result that we now see a noise floor in the South cavity that scales as f^-0.5 over an additional kilohertz at high frequencies.

The fact that, by reducing the laser frequency noise, we can uncover more of a noise spectrum that looks like thermal noise is encouraging.  Our baseline goal for the TNI was to have a fused-silica-based, thermal-noise-limited interferometer by Dec. 18, 2001.  We first began to see this f^-0.5 noise spectrum on Dec. 3, and its level is approximately that predicted by the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, based on the measured Q of the South Output mirror.  There is an additional factor of 2 or 3 that might be accounted for by coating thermal noise (Gregg Harry, private communication).  Moreover, the noise level in the North cavity is substantially higher than its predicted thermal noise, and it does not exhibit an f^-0.5 spectrum anywhere, so a spurious source of f^-0.5 noise does not seem likely.  It is still too early to positively identify our data as thermal noise, but the tests we have performed since Dec. 3 have strengthened the case for thermal noise rather than weakened it.

Now about the North Cavity.  Its noise level is higher than that of the South cavity, and we would like to know why.  We have listed a number of potential candidates for this excess noise and are in the process of systematically eliminating them.  One of the first things we noticed was that the error signal for the North Cavity is approximately a factor of 100 smaller than that of the South Cavity.  We thought at first that the beam falling on the photodetector was defocused, and that that might be causing the discrepancy.  As it turns out, both beams are tightly focused on their respective photodetectors, so that at least is not a problem.  Next we will check the intensities of each beam using an independent photodetector and, if those are the same, we will check the response of each RF photodetector.

Another difference between the North and South cavities is their OSEM controllers.  We have seen evidence in the past that not all of our controllers have the same noise level, and we suspected that one of the North Cavity's controllers might be introducing a significant amount of noise.  The most reliable way to check this, if not the most elegant, is to simply swap the controllers, putting the North Cavity controllers on the South Cavity and vice versa.  We did this, and observed no change in the noise levels of either cavity.  All four controllers give us a nice, low noise level on the South Cavity and a fairly high level on the North, so we conclude that controller noise is not the problem in the
North Cavity.

Our models suggest that the noise level in the South Cavity may already be low enough to observe Braginsky noise in Sapphire mirrors, but we are still trying to reduce the noise level in our all-fused-silica interferometer in preparation for sapphire.  We would very much like to have the North Cavity's noise comparable to the South's, so that we might have two separate measures of displacement noise in sapphire.

Before and after the 3-week period, we recorded time series and frequency spectra of both lasers. At the beginning, the Mephisto laser appeared to have slightly less intensity noise. At the end, the LightWave laser was dead, and the Mephisto laser looked much as it had before.

LASTI (Zucker)

HYDRAULIC ACTUATORS: (10) Fabrication drawings have been completed. (2) are partially completed, waiting for final results of FEA.

A finite element model of the weldment which sits on the pier holding the springs and actuators has been completed. A modal and deflection analysis is running. Results should be available thursday.

CDS/DAQ/GDS: No problems to report.

PSL: This week we continued with our efforts to shake down the FSS servo. Jamie has started to modify the spare FSS board to test candidate design improvements. Once the vacuum system leak check is completed we will commence locking the one meter test cavity.

Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)

Simulation and Modeling (Bhawal)

Lazzarini note: I thought it was an excellent exposition in how Luca has been reconciling measurement with models.

Locking LIGO in presence of mode mismatch: (Biplab) Using the E2E model of LIGO 2km with all its spatial mode mismatches (coming from the as-built, measured differences in radii of curvature of the corresponding mirrors in two arms and from recycling mirror curvature designed to be matching in the hot state but not in cold) it was shown that  model would achieve lock.

LIGO I simulation system: (Matt) Working on the LIGO1 simulation system (upgrade from Han2k). I have decided upon and implemented a top level design and am currently working on subsystem design.

LSC characterization: (Luca) Prepared and verified a new version of Han2kControl.box, compatible to Matt's original Han2k model, containing all the new filtering measured in the past few months.

Mechanical Simulation: (Virginio)

• Started working on the definition of a state-space representation to interface e2e-mse to other simulation.
• Found some new bugs in one of the mse object. Most of the stuff which are not working will be fixed by the new mse version which will allows a better and easier description of the internal modes of wires and beams.

Alfi: (Bruce) Implementing various menu item options.

LIGO Data Analysis System

A job submission summary has now been added to the controlMonitorAPI. It has a graphical interface which includes the statistics (number submited, number failed) and a graph of the GPS time vs the total jobs submitted in the user specified time interval for any LDAS user (including all). It even has color coding, showing the jobs that failed on the graph in red along the total curve.

The problem reported during the engineering run in the metadataAPI whereby slave interpreters were being killed by users without properly removing the threads within the slave interpreter has been fixed.

The issue of having more than 5 pending socket connections for the server in the eventMonitorAPI which was causing some wrapperAPI jobs to terminate has been resolved by adding more servers to the eventMonitorAPI and by adding several re-tries to the wrapperAPI to increase robustness.

Work continues on the separation of the disk caching functionality found in the frameAPI for previous releases into the new separated diskCacheAPI. Some minor testing has begun, but there is still a weeks worth of effort here.

The problem that was discovered during the engineering run whereby the job resultant subdirectories were filling up and not allowing any more results to be written to disk has been fixed in the development version of LDAS by implementing a hierarchical subdirectory naming system.

LDAS now compiles with the new GCC 3.0.3 compiler, but it has yet to be tested with this new build. This effort began today with pressing urgency on a one CPU Linux Box. Hope to know how well it does by tomorrow.

Several modifications to the rules for building packages used by LDAS have been made to make LDAS more inline with the more ANSI/ISO compliant compiler.

Made several modifications to LDAS to support Beowulf clusters with 100 or more nodes.

Hardware Systems (Anderson)

Caltech:

(Dan Kozak)

• Caught up on lots of HPSS account creations (still some to do).
• HPSS data migration to 9940s continues.
• The first two LIGO owned STK9940 tape drives have been installed into the LIGO tape silo for testing the SAM-QFS mass storage software.
• Fixed various breakages in HPSS (deleted core files, restarted servers, added tapes to storage classes)
• Worked on getting the Ultra10 that controls the STK9310 swapped out.  Dothill and STK have figured out where the bureaucratic problem is (STK never billed us for the support, it seems).  Now waiting on a technical response.
• Came up with "fix" (haven't heard back from users yet) for sendmail problem on LIGO Linux boxes.

• Moved ldas-pcdev2 to rm602b
• Have a working nis-utils RPM will be doing test on kitalpha
• Also on kitalpha will be testing RH7.2
• Testing the latest sendmail fix from Dan Kozak.
• Removing SSH v1 protocol from LDAS machines at caltech

Met with Sun Microsystems to discuss there near-term plans for new Fiber Channel equipment. The most important update is that the firmware to support the desired LDAS storage network topology is now available.

Ingesting E7 data into the HPSS archive.

Wasted a day due to a "planned" power outage in Millikan library tracking down a bug in the Solaris network table management on multi-homed machines.

Replicated a few hours of "standard" E6 and E7 test data to all Lab LDAS systems and working to make it available on LSC LDAS systems as well.

Investigated and reported bug to gcc related to Solaris file I/O performance degradation in the latest version of the compiler (gcc-3.0.3).

Installed new AMD Athlon 1900+ Linux machine to evaluate next generation platforms for LDAS.

Enabled web access to all CVS software repositories on ldas-sw, i.e., CDS, GDS, E2E, DSO, as well as the already accessable LDAS. To browse see http://www.ldas-sw.ligo.caltech.edu/cvsweb.cgi.

MIT:

(Keith Bayer)

• Installed cards on SF880
• Ran full diagnostics on SF880
• Installed OS on SF880
• Drilled out brackets off of rack mount for T3
• Compiled BTU numbers for facilities
• Investigated admin server crash
• Turned off SSH v1 on gateway

(Igor Yakushin)

• Tapes: shipped all E7 data (70 tapes) to Caltech.
• SunFire 880: performed a diagnostics boot, installed the graphics card, installed Solaris 8 and configured metadevice.
• Built a stand-alone LDAS system to play with.
• Talked to Chethan about an fb2 status indicator for operators: he just added it to the webpage that operators are checking.
• Wrote a perl script to extract data rate time series from log files in a format that can be used , for example, in gnuplot. Wrote corresponding gnuplot script to generate a postscript plot.
• Started playing with control monitor on LDAS standalone system ...
• Returning back to playing with DB2, LDAS jobs, TCL ...
• Studied first 9 chapters from DB2 Administration guide: Planning.
• Started reading DB2 Administration guide: Implementation.
• Shannon and I installed UPS for SunFire.

Ordered the UPS for the SF880.

The Cybernetics tape library came back from repairs and is in the Mass Storage Room.  After the run is over, I will reinstall the unit, return the GC unit to decatur, and test the LDAS unit.

Igor and I installed the UPS for the new SF880 in the Mass Storage room.

Hanford:

(Greg Mendell)

1) Two shipments of tapes with the LHO full frame E7 data have been or are about to be sent to Caltech.  These contain about the first 250 hours of the run.

2) The process writing data from the fb3 framebuilder T3 disk cache to tape at LHO is falling behind.  It will need to be switched to write data from the archived E7 T3 disk cache to tape to get the last 3-4 days of the run.  This is not a major problem for this run, and no data will be lost.  However, the disk to tape write speed will need to be increased for future runs.  The archiving of E7 data to tape is keeping up with the data at LLO.

3) The copying of E7 data from the framebuilders' disk cache to the archived E7 T3 disk cache has proceeded without problems since the beginning of the run.

4) Worked two shifts in the control room.

5) Performed daily monitoring of the ldas systems at LHO and assisted in solving problems as they arose.

Data Analysis Activities: (Lazzarini)

Worked through the properties of the LSC servo in order to understand (with Luca's help) the conceptual foundation of the calibration procedure.

Worked on software to automate the discovery of clean locked segments, by scanning the 'conlog' logs.  This function will be added to the conlog web interface, so that it can be done on demand.  (It was done manually by scientists on shift during the E7 run.)

Operations support activities: (Lazzarini)

• Created a 'gpsclock' utility so that people in the observatory control rooms have an easy way to see the current GPS time, and to convert between GPS, UTC and local time.

• Installed o/s on laptops
• Ordered dell desktop
• Investigating samba for printer services
• Investigated printer problem from PC (needed new drivers from Adobe)
• Removed dtspcd from inetd on several older Suns

(Tom)

• Working with LSU to put the final touches on the installation of our new router and firewall.
• Performing maintenance and upgrading on our servers, which had been on hold over the E7 run.

• Installed a web page for us to track IP allocations.  The list that we were using was on paper and had gotten very out of date and inaccurate.
• Checked all of the PCs around and made sure that I have an accurate accounting now.  I will be reassigning some IPs in the next few weeks to better allocate the subnet so that we can have a pool reserved for DHCP.
• Purchased two wireless bridging access points so that we can get a  temporary network connection to the new building.
• Worked a couple of security issues on the Solaris servers here due to a new exploit for CDE.

• This is my first week back at work after my carpal tunnel surgery.  I spent the first few days catching up on emails and news.  Also spent several days helping Caltech figure out how much to pay me for my time away.
• Installed the latest patches on all GC Sun systems.
• Installed the latest Norton Antivirus and liveupdate software from Caltech's site license on all PCs.
• Put a laptop that had been put on the wireless network back onto an ethernet/modem card.
• Moved files around to build a new computer for one of the users.
• Investigated a problem with a slow network between here and Caltech.
• Discovered "gamers" using our Anonymous FTP site.  This was probably the cause of the network slow down.  Our FTP server was overloaded with FTP processes downloading large game files that had been put on our server by the "gamers".  I blocked all FTP network access to the FTP server at the router.  This allows users on site to use the FTP for file transfers, but prevents anyone from off site using it.  We will discuss a solution to this problem, perhaps instead of an Anonymous FTP, we will setup a guest FTP site which requires a password.

(Veronica)

• LIGO website: posted various updates (Undergraduate Programs for 2002; Fellowships/Postdoc Openings; Employment listings).
• Worked with Rita on updating the new LIGO roster. Posted the announcement about the upcoming LSC meeting and workshop for creating source working groups.
• Working on the graphics and scripting for webpages for the Elba conference.  Posted the Elba registration form. Made several minor changes to the LIGO home page.
• Project Science website and workshop: posted updates to the website (maps, graphics, updates to the participants list, general information).  Added a page for the ppt/pdfs of presentations (unpublished until after actual talks). Have daily meetings with Sydney regarding the final details of the workshop preparations. Arranged for name badges. General support (registration etc.) on Friday and Saturday during the workshop. The presentations webpage will be made public on Saturday as soon as the workshop is over.
• CaJAGWR: made arrangements for this week's talk (reserved a room, arranged and set up a projector, set up a video and recorded the talk).  Posted a video and a pdf of the talk by the JPL LISA team (finally, the clearance!)

• Upgraded several computers at Wilson House with more memory; the majority of these PC's over there are upgraded to 256MB's of RAM.
• Replaced a CDROM wasn't reading data.
• Replaced Virus scan software that had been was corrupted.
• Worked on VNC software with Larry by enabling a VNC server for clients to connect to. This seems to work with know problems. When you install VRVS the VNC software loads also; all you have to do is enable it by

1.Install WinVNC service
2. Run VNCviewer  (Connection detail box) will pop-up
VNC server: type in ip address or registered domain name.
Put in password, that's it, you are connected.

To setup a server all you have to do is click on the icon that is located on your tool bar
(WinVNC: Current User Properties) will open; then just put a check mark in the (Accept Socket Connections)
(Display Number) you can limit the amount of connections or put a check mark in the (auto) option.
(password:) you must put in a password, make sure you disable remote keyboard & pointer remote and local.

(UPDATE Handling) I have everything checked, this seems to work for me; you can play with these settings if you like.
APPLY settings and click OKAY.
Done deal.

• On the NT servers Compact database and system administration looking into log errors and updating virus scan software.
• Backed up Liz Woods old computer with ghost image.
• Shuffled around several computers, ultra 10's, and monitors within West Bridge plus moving users from Millikan to West Bridge, with the help of Larry Wallace.
• Upgraded the Ghost server from 7.0 to 7.5 this is a big plus because this version allows me to run a single cast specifying one IP address rather than before with 7.0 you can only run a multibroadcast which floods the wireless network, and drives the network switches nuts. I still have to run  a few more tests to make sure things are working

• Updated and reconfigured dhcp servers.
• Rebuilt tiger
• Rebuilt jabbah
• Put mu6 and the latest recommended security patch cluster on sirius
• Set up jabbah for bruce sears
• Installed pcard for mark barton
• Worked on php scripts for inventory
• Put in some of the lesser wireless access points on the 3d floor of bridge until we can get orinoco's purchased.

• Actually performed a few interesting (fun) tasks this past week. Cleaned up a couple of network problems. The big news though is gsparc is now unplugged. It is the last of the old legacy system.
• Worked a number of procurement issues. A couple of the maintenance contracts that were renewed had to be corrected. A few items from last years procurements are being cleared up.
• Worked with Mike on the computer move, VNC testing.
• Upgrading the OS and security patches on a number of the servers. Along that line I have been testing out the new home server and it should be ready for production in a couple of weeks when the new network is in place.
• Worked some of the logistics on the Hanford WAN connection with Richard M., NoaNet and Energy-Northwest. There will be a telecom the first week of February for a status report.
• Reworking the Computer User Policy. Worked on the wrong version over the Holidays but most of the changes will still be incorporated in the latest version that Albert had prepared.

LIGO II/Advanced R&D (Sanders)

From: Helena Armandula <ahelena@ligo.caltech.edu>

Silicate Bonding: We performed an experiment to observe the stress distribution on the bonded surface of a prism (ear) using a polariscope.  We silicate bonded a prism, made from an old Glasgow design, to a flat polished on a fused silica disk. Welded fibers to the prism and suspended weights to the fibers.  One of the fibers broke while being loaded.  With the other fiber loaded with a few grams, we saw the stress distribution on the bond.  As the weight increased, we observed several stress points where stress was expected from the design analysis.  A few seconds after reaching 2.5 kg of load, one part of the prism's leg broke matching the shape of the stress distribution seen at the time.  The experiment will be repeated again to be able to determine if the leg broke because of stress induced during welding fibers, a flaw on the glass or a design problem.

>From: Peter Fritschel <pf@ligo.mit.edu>

CSI:  Gari B and I visited Crystal Systems on 16 Jan to review the status of the sapphire development. The most significant development is that they have produced the first sapphire boule from their 15" diameter furnace (ie, the boule is 15" diam). Their intent is to develop production capability of this size, from which the AdLIGO test masses would be made (their current largest production size is 13.5" diam, a bit too small for our desired 40kg test masses). They haven't yet done any quality characterization of this piece, but at least they were able to produce this size without cracks/fracture in the bulk. They plan on growing 4-5 more 'experimental' boules of this size over the next ~6 months to tune the process. We agreed that they should grow these pieces along the a-axis, as our limited data indicate its homogeneity is better than m-axis material (the first boule is actually m-axis, but the second one underway is a-axis). There are no real developments on their end regarding absorption (they are waiting for samples from Stanford).

>From: Phil Willems <willems@ligo.caltech.edu>

Fused silica fiber research: We have submitted for LSC review a paper entitled, "Investigations of the Dynamics and Mechanical Dissipation of a Fused Silica Suspension," summarizing the last two years of such research at Caltech.  The main results we report are:

• the measurement of the temperature dependence of the Young's modulus of fused silica to be (dE/dT)/E=1.52e-4/K (previously reported in LIGO-T000188-00),
• the independent measurement of the dilution factor by the temperature dependence of the violin frequencies, with results matching theoretical predictions,
• measurement of Q's for the violin modes of 400-500 million, very high but not quite up to predicted values,
• measurement of the Q's of unloaded fibers of up to 11 million,
• evidence that the thermal expansion coefficient of fused silica fibers may be less than 4e-7/K.

Based in part on the work in this paper, we are composing a database of fused silica properties relevant to thermal noise, in an effort to unify the ranges of values we currently use.  This will be a joint effort of Moscow, Glasgow, Syracuse, and Caltech, and we intend to present our findings at the 2002 Livingston LSC meeting.  All those with data to share please contact Phil Willems.

>From: ctorrie <ctorrie@ligo.caltech.edu>
Suspensions

No report.

>From: Rich Abbott <abbott@ligo.caltech.edu>

• The prototype driver boards for the +/- 10A voice coil actuator are being sent to the board house 01/17.  They will be back 01/21 for test.

No report.

>From: Riccardo DeSalvo <desalvo@ligo.caltech.edu>

No report.

For additional information about this report, contact sanders@ligo.caltech.edu