Weekly Report for Week Ending April 29, 2004


 Exec. Comm. Agenda

Highlights

LSC

Administration

Hanford Observatory

Livingston Observatory

MIT

Caltech

Detector

40 Meter

TNI

LASTI

Data Analysis

Adv. LIGO Development

Past Weekly Reports


The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday  May 3, 2004 will be:

 (Meeting time: 10:30 am Pacific Time)
 

  1. Announcements
  2. LSC Issues (Saulson)
  3. Comments on Weekly Report
  4. WBS 1 LIGO I Construction (Lindquist)
      • Field Change Orders/Contingency Liens/Change Requests
  5. WBS 2 LIGO Lab Operations
      • Administration (Lindquist)
      • Sites (Raab, Zucker, Shoemaker)
      • Detector (Whitcomb, Coyne)
      • Campus Research Facilities (Weinstein (40 Meter), Libbrecht (TNI), Zucker(LASTI))
      • Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)
  6. WBS 3 and 4  Advanced R&D and LIGO II (Shoemaker)
  7. CHANGE CONTROL BOARD/TECHNICAL REVIEW BOARD SESSION AS NEEDED


Special Items:


Special Announcements:

Mike Zucker writes:  MIT colleague and friend Pradeep Sarin is in critical condition at a Baton Rouge hospital after an auto accident in Livingston early Monday morning. Pradeep's wife Sahana has flown down to BR to be with him.  Joe Giaime and the Livingston LIGO staff have rallied to support Sahana through this difficult time. Doctors hope for a full recovery, but caution us that healing will be a long and difficult process.

##SEW##  It is very sad to have to open my first weekly report as Deputy Director with such news.  I know that everyone joins me in wishing Pradeep and Sahana well through this difficult time. 


Weekly Report Highlights
 


LSC Issues (Saulson)


no report


LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)


Status of LSC/MOU Research Updates and Program Reports (Petrac)


LIGO Weekly Site Telecon (Jasnow)

There was a site teleconference Thursday, April 29, 2004.  The following issues were among those discussed:

The list of current actions revised to reflect the status of open actions assigned through the last update (March 4, 2004) may be found at ACTION LIST.


PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Chargois)

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


DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner, Mak)

>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

> From: Cleveland Mak <mak_c@ligo.caltech.edu>

ACTIVITY

04/08/04

Packages

Faxes

In

18

35

Out

8

46

Press here to access the DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER WEB PAGE.


COST SCHEDULE CONTROL SYSTEMS (Cunningham, Brambila, Kaufman, Salone)

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

Press here for ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HISTORY DATA.

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

From: Gina Salone <gsalone@ligo.caltech.edu>

From: Florence Kaufman <fkaufman@ligo.caltech.edu>

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

 


SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Petrac, Jasnow)

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

From: Ed Jasnow <jasnow@ligo.caltech.edu>


SUPPORT (Baldon, Lloyd, Tischler)

>Irene Baldon

>Dorothy Lloyd

>From: Ryan Tischler <rtischle@ligo.caltech.edu>

###SEW####  Best wishes to Ryan as he embarks on his new adventure.  Thanks for all you have done for us ###


ADVANCED LIGO (Cost Schedule Control Systems) T. Frey

From: Thomas Frey <tfrey@ligo.caltech.edu>

 

Progress Period from 04.23 to 04.29

 

For list of documents that are being used to develop Adv. LIGO Cost and Schedule, see http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/Cost_MTG_082002/

 

Accomplishments:

·         The following is a summary of status by sub system:

§         COC - http://ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/COC_AdvLIGO/COC_index.html

§         Still need completed WBS dictionary and BOE. 

§         Completed progress data input.

§         Working on publishing of reports / posting to web.

§         PSL -  http://ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/PSL_AdvLIGO/PSL_index.html

§         Executed telecom for review of PSL cost / schedule data.  Comments / formal acceptance pending.

§         http://ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/PSL_AdvLIGO/CB_rev_041304/

§         Completed progress data input.

§         Working on publishing of reports / posting to web.

§         AOS - Working on revisions to the baseline schedule and WBS dictionary.

§         IO -  http://ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/IO_AdvLIGO/IO_index.html

§         Still need completed WBS dictionary and BOE. 

§         Completed progress data input.

§         Working on publishing of reports / posting to web.

§         SUS - http://ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/SUS_AdvLIGO/SUS_index.html

§         Executed telecom with SUS group to discuss status as of April 02, 2004.

§         Completed progress data input.

§         Working on publishing of reports / posting to web.

§         SEI - http://ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/SEI_AdvLIGO/SEI_index.html

§         Completed progress data input.

§         Working on publishing of reports / posting to web.

§         ISC - Comments / Data pending from Dennis C. and Peter F.

§         LDAS - No action required at this point in time.

§         INSTALL - No action items pending. 

§         DAQ - No action required at this point in time.

§         PM - No action required at this point in time.

§         FAC - No action required at this point in time.

§         SUP - No action required at this point in time. 

§         LASTI - http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/LASTI/lasti_index.html

§         Completed progress data input.

§         Working on publishing of reports / posting to web.

§         40-Meter - http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/40m/40m_index.html

§         Completed progress data input.

§         Working on publishing of reports / posting to web.

§         TNI - http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/TNI/TNI_index.html

§         Completed progress data input.

§         Working on publishing of reports / posting to web.

·         ROSTER DATABASE:

§         Continued input of changes / corrections regarding supervisors and departments.

§         Continue to review data management tasks required during Irena's leave of absence.

§         Acquired access to the appropriate server space for updating LSC mail lists during Irena's absence.

·         COST BOOK DATABASE:

§         Reconciling cost account listing from cost book and schedule loading. 

§         Continue to work with Carol and Florence starting work setting up "crosswalk" between accounting and progress reporting.

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


Reports (Lindquist)


Change Control/Contingency (Lindquist)


Human Resources (Akutagawa)

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


Quality/Safety (Tyler)

>From: Bill Tyler <tyler@ligo.caltech.edu>

 


LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) and Interferometer Operations (Raab)


Summary of commissioning activities at the LIGO Hanford Observatory (compiled  by R. Savage)

It has been a busy week with the operators struggling to maintain order and reliability in the midst of numerous commissioning activities.  Effort to complete the data acquisition system reconfiguration continue.   An output modecleaner is being installed and tested on H1.

H1 Activities

o The RFAM spectrum at the REFL port was measured and did not show signs of oscillator phase noise.

o The main modulation frequency and that of the non-resonant sideband were adjusted to optimize transmission through the modecleaner.

o The ITMX central and annulus heating curves were measured with the thermal compensation system.

o Microphone measurements revealed a dominant 56 Hz acoustic signal in the LVEA.

o Automated centering on the wavefront sensors using the picomotor actuators was implemented.

o Annulus heating of both ITMs was tested in full common-mode operation with two watts of input laser power.  A factor of three increase in the high frequency "phase noise" bump was observed.

o New, fast 16-bit ADCs were installed in the end stations.  The first intended use is for the photon calibrators.

o The PSL reference cavity and PMC transmissions had dropped significantly since the optical path changes a couple of weeks ago.  Slight alignment tweaks returned system performance to the original levels.   After about one month of operation, the 126MOPA output power is still near 11 watts.

o Large spikes at 164 kHz and harmonics were observed in the FSS and PMC servo error points.  The source of the spikes is being investigated.  Switching power supplies in the laser are suspected.

o The output modecleaner was received and installed on the ISCT4 table at the antisymmetric port (photos).  It was subsequently successfully locked on the dark fringe of the full interferometer.

o Test mass suspension diagonalization efforts continue.

o The modecleaner was successfully locked with the full 7.5 watts of laser input power.  Radiation pressure induced alignment shifts were observed.

H2 Activities

o Work on diagonalization of the sensing matrix for the wavefront sensors continues.

o The MEDM screens for the upcoming test of the digital wavefront sensor servos for the modecleaner were completed and added to the system. 


LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO) and Interferometer Operations (Zucker)


Commissioning overview (Zucker)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Commissioning was again dominated by HEPI tests at the X end. We have found and begun implementing a fix for the pin valve tolerance issue, which caused an unintentional hydraulic "short circuit" in some actuators. However we still haven't got a complete picture of how the responses are varying from unit to unit. Work continues to isolate and resolve this question.

We're also hampered by a vexing intermittent failure in our DAQ VME controller, which seems to quit at random, disabling the entire data system until it can be hard-reset. Chethan and Ash, aided by Alex from Caltech, have invested a week trying to isolate the fault; so far no smoking gun has been found.

Meanwhile actuator and piping installation continues at full speed (see below); a new team has now been assigned to assemble and stage actuators, in order to stay ahead of the installation team.

Rupal continued working on improving the PSL power throughput, working on the PMC modematching this week. Andri presented a compilation of PRC phase camera data obtained before the gates were closed for corner station HEPI installation; comparison of these data with modeling predictions provided by Erika D'Ambrosio is promising.

The corner station vacuum system is responding well to TLC. The Y long cryo regen gave another substantial reduction in LN2 consumption, despite a minor plumbing fault which prevented elevated-temperature bake of the reservior. Rus was also able to resurrect both IP3 and IP4 (disabled since last July) without venting them, so we are now back to full ion pumping strength. The X long cryo is now being regenerated, and the X manifold is about to be vented for its thermal compensator viewport installation. The corner-X outside storage dewar is being run dry before we recool that cryo; based on LN consumption data, we suspected a heat leak, so next week Air Liquide will warm up and repump its insulating space.


Safety and security (Rich Riesen)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The HPLF hardware and software safety punch list is now complete and fully operational.

I found no safety concerns during my weekly site tour.

The HEPI installation crew is continuing their outstanding safety awareness and practices.

Work is continuing on site and laser safety sop's and procedures.

CPR/AED/First aid training has been completed.  25 people have now been certified by the American Red Cross.  A defibrillator has been ordered and first aid kits and accessories are being placed at the end stations, LVEA, and the staging building.

#MZ NOTE: Staff response to this safety course was enthusiastic and positive. Most LLO staffers and many on-site contractors are now CPR and AED certified, contributing to a substantially safer workplace. Rich did a great job organizing the course; thanks!

L1 Commissioning (Frolov)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(Valera is at LHO this week stuffing his pockets)

LLO Seismic retrofit (Rich Abbott)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1.  Continuing to debug the HEPI system in the X end station.  There are some discrepancies with the control authority of different piers that are under investigation.
2.  Installation of HEPI actuators has progressed to HAM 3 in the vertex.  HAM 4 is complete.
3.  Piping installation is complete for all BSC chambers.  Work is being done to finish the 1.5 inch distribution and to prep HAM 1 for 1/2 inch pipes.
4.  All actuator housings are on site.  A team is working two days a week building housings and actuators to keep up with the installation effort.

Oddvar Spjeld adds:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
- Completed assembly of the first (2) HEPI housings for HAM #3
- Quote request for manufacturing TCS laser enclosure from two shops
- Follow-up of flex line hoses from Ameriflex: delivery schedule 5/12
- Follow-up of remaining HEPI parts: need additional boots shortly
- Updating model files on PDM Server for Caltech transfer: 80% complete


HPLF and L1 Commissioning (Amin)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
(Rupal is away on travel)


General Computing (Roddy)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
(Shannon is away on travel)


Data Analysis (Yakushin)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
LDAS admin
1) Configured ldas-grid to accept user logins using GSI-enabled ssh client.
2) Replaced two failed T3 disks.
3) Disk u1d9 in T3-10 seems to be failing as well.
4) Playing with DB2 8.1 on ldas-pcdev1 and ldas-pcdev2 to figure out how to set up replication. For some reason installing fixpack 5 made the database unusable. Without fixpack, there seems to be a lot of bugs at least in the GUI.

Data analysis:
1) Generated more MDC frames on the whole S2 (BH5, SG12, GA2, ZM1).
2) Testing the new MDC frames with waveburst.
3) Prepared some efficiency plots for Patrick Sutton's presentation at APS meeting.
4) Met with Giovanni Santostasi from Baton Rouge Community College to help him to get started on his pulsar figure of merit project at LLO.
5) Preparing for the next week face to face burst meeting at UWM.


CDS support (Ash Khan)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Implemented the modifications to the IOO WFS system, including; merging the code to the new asc controller, epics database files, medm screens, excitation signals and test points.

Helping Alex trying to figure out the problem with the l0dacqtrl software.
 


Detector/Technical Support (Coyne)


CDS

see also the CDS weekly meeting minutes in the commissioning archives:

CDS Software

no report

CDS Hardware

Jay Heefner reporting

 

Fiber Optic Timing Link (Sander)

=============================

- The design of the transmitter and receiver using discrete FO devices is complete. The transmitter board layout is complete and the receiver board should be complete by Friday.

- All parts are in house or on order.

 

Timing System Redesign (Flavio)

===========================

- A draft requirements document should be ready by 5/5.

 

Anit-Image Filters (Mohana)

=============================

- Tested the output noise of the cheby filter version in the presence of very high slew rate input signals. The LT1125 version output noise rises when the signals are present. The op467 version does not.

- Design of the actual board to be used with the FDI DACs is waiting on a final decision on the requirements.

 

HEPI (Ben)

===============================

- 40 Pier Interface Modules should be sent to Screaming Circuits for assembly by next week.

 

LSC PD (Ben)

==============================

- Working with Vern

 

ISS (Flavio, Ben)

==============================

- Flavio and Peter K have measured the transfer function from the Current Shunt input to the light and they do not see the resonances at 2.5MHzobserved at MIT. They will confirm their measurements and also repeat the measurement on the 40M PSL.

- Ben has been developing a test procedure for the ISS PD so that I can have a flock of them tested for LHO's installation.  The procedure should be done tomorrow.

 

 

EMI Upgrade

=============================

- Continue to receive cable and components for LLO.

- Mohana is working on the wiring and rack drawings for the LVEA suspensions and should be ready for review by late next week.

 

Output Mode Cleaner (Jay)

============================

- Shipped to LHO

 

AdLIGO SUS (Jay)

============================

- Finalizing drawings for MC controls to be  sent to LASTI by June.

 

Electronics Shop

=============================

- Continued building and testing of various componets needed for the sites, HEPI and 40M.

PSL

PeterKing

A number of transfer function measurements were made with the current shunt and modified current shunt.

 

OMC

PeterKing reporting

The hardware for the OMC prototype has been shipped to LHO.

 

Quotes for plano/plano and plano/concave super-polished substrates have been received from REO.  Along with the coating run costs.

 

At present I am sketching out some parameters to allow 1 in. diameter substrates.  This would make the body slightly larger.

 

In going over the drawings for the vacuum chamber box, a mistake was found in the tapped hole bolt pattern for the Brewster window mounts.  Whilst the pattern was drawn correctly in that the bolt pattern straddles the vertical as per the US practice, I had overlooked the fact that the drawing elevation was rotated.  The end result is that the Brewster window adapters will not fit in the correct orientation as is.  A remedy would be to add another set of clearance and counterbore holes in the Brewster window mounts that is 30 degrees rotated over.

 

As-built drawings are being generated.

Optical Contamination Cavities

Lee Cardenas, Liyuan Zhang

OTF Lab. (W. Bridge)
The (21) pieces of the new twisted, shielded, teflon cables are under test.
We are taking ring down and beat frequency measurements
as well as the RGA of the chamber every day. NO CHANGE
The test has completed (3) months of measurement.
Please see Dr. Zhang's report.   These cables are clean!

Absorption Test Measurement prototype in progress
We are removing the sapphire substrate PINK color from Lyon, France. (314 mm Dia. X 131mm thick.)
The substrate is in standby for further measurements later on.
Right now we are going to test the new  sample in a pentagon shape of 1.00" thick.
We made a special holder for this chunk of sapphire.
The (3) sapphire substrates 3" Dia x 1.0" Thick to be tested is in STANDBY for later.
The new modified holders for these mirrors has been completed.
Now we have a total of five samples to be measured:
1.) the T-8 slab,
2.) three 3" sapphire substrates, and
3.) the 15 cm dia. substrate, which is on the way coming back.

We have solved  the water leak on the power amplifier box for our 30 watt laser.
We found out that the screw holders for the amplifier box was loose.  Therefore
we have epoxy the nut in place and  the leak have stopped.

The fabrication of the rods for the enclosure is in STANDBY.
Please see Dr. Zhang's report.

Scatterometer system
in standby

OTF Lab at Lauritsen ROOM 38 NO CHANGE.

Cavity #3
The cavity is locked and we are taking ring down and beat frequency measurements every
day as well as the RGA for the chamber. 

Cavity #2 Test cavity optical set up in standby for further samples.

PSL LAB.
The 10 watt ND:YAG laser is undergoing for a complete and new alignment which is in Standby.

Peter and I, got all the OMC parts and packed them carefully and was sent to LHO on Friday
They have already received it.

Misc... tasks
different fixture to accommodate sapphire substrate samples has been completed.

HEPI & Baffles

Ken Mailand

Working on the task of organizing the HEPI materials and DCC documentation, and on the Baffle project drawings
and DCC documentation. All the baffle assemblies should be sent to Corey by 4-30-04.

 


 

40 Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)



Thermal Noise Interferometer (Libbrecht)


no report


LASTI (Ottaway)


no report


Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)


Simulation and Modeling

Weekly Physics Meeting (Bhawal)
---------------------------
Tiffany Findley and Sany Yoshida from Southern Louisianna University presented their work on "E2E simulation of Input Optics" . They tested the effect of asymmetrical OSEM gain settings on the optic's motion. When they attributed random asymmetry of 1% to the four rear SOS OSEM's, the pitch/yaw peak value at the table resonance increased about 10%. They also investigated the optical coupling into higher order modes due to the optics' motion and the optical coupling into the arm cavity. Details available in e2e homepage http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~e2e

Adaptive FFT
---------------------------
(Hiro, Biplab) The adaptive FFT algorithm has been implemented using matlab and the code has demonstrated the usefulness. The result has been posted in e2e enote. Biplab started using this for studying the phase-camera setup at LHO.

Seismic Noise at LLO
-------------------------
(Virginio, Biplab) Extracted LLO accelerometer data from unlocked stretches of S1 and converted into displacements.

LinLIGO
------------------
(Matt) Worked on LinLIGO cleanup and documentation.

Stochastic Group
-------------------------
(Matt) Assisted with stochastic background group's code review.

Code development and maintenance
----------------------------------------
(Hiro) modeler code:
 Afew details related to digital filter modeling turned out to be addressed to support FUNC_X properly.
 These have been worked out and SimLIGO is used to validate the code. A problem of ALFI5 was found which is needed to be fixed before the new e2e with FUNC_X. Taking advantage of this extra time, the marco implementation is validated so that the fix of macro can be included in the e2e 2.0 release.

(Melody) Minor changes to the FUNC_X scripts and primitives Continuing with the technical documentation for FUNC_X.

Alfi
----------
(Bruce)
     - Fixing problem where #include string is used as part of a C code snippet in a setting.

LIGO Data Analysis System

Software Systems (Blackburn)

At the DASWG meeting it was decided that the current sngl_inspiral table design would be the final change for this LDAS release. The DASWG also gave the gds_triggers table definition one more week to finalize. This would make the earliest possible date for the next LDAS release the end of next week.

The installation of the DB2 version 8.1 with fixpac 5 installation has been finished at all LIGO Laboratory LDAS systems (CIT, TEST, DEV, MIT, LHO, LLO). This was only an install. The tables have not been migrated over to this database server yet. We also will need to install this version of DB2 on the central federation/replication database server hardware once it is upgraded to RH 9.

Discovered that the upgrade and migration of the database tables to the DB2 8.1 server resulted in a slowdown on the LDAS-TEST system. This was resolved by running the optimizer command "runstats" on the database after it was discovered that this step had been left out of the upgrade procedures (it has since been added). A new script was also written to automate this procedure.

The Intel C/C++ compiler has been installed on ldasbox1 to be used as the porting platform for migrating LDAS over to this compiler.

Modified the controlMonitorAPI client to used the environment variable "::BWIDGET::LIBRARY".

Updated the "descMetaData" user command to work with the current LDAS release.

Attempted to develop a new threadID (tid) syncronization interface based on a tcl interpreter. Initial code causes coredumps in the frameAPI. Ed Maros has some ideas on how to proceed.

May have isolated the memory leak in the frameAPI to code that uses the FrProc structures. A careful code read along with experimenting with a new memory management library from Sun (libumem) are planned.

SWIGlobus Project -
(Joint project to provide Globus Toolkit to Python & TCL):

1. Integrated Python into automake/autoconf framework.
2. Started to standardize testing.
   a. Have one configuration file for site specific values.
   b. Added helper functions for Python and TCL to be used by test  programs.
   c. Modifing Python test code to work with "make check".

Worked on improving the documentation for the new dataconditionAPI's external library for use in condor, dmt, etc. environments.

Addressed the following problem reports:

 PR #1559 - documentation issue regarding whether and when the -framequery option is required. CLOSED

PR #1743 - various documentation issues. CLOSED

PR #2439 - off by one error in count of assistant managers in mgr::detectBlockage. CLOSED

PR #2443 - incorrect allocation of virtual compute node to wrapper master given some combination(s) of physical node multiple usage options. ANALYZED

Closed PR250 after failing to reproduce the problem. The PR reported that the diskcacheAPI failed to shutdown when requested. In repeated shutdown/restarts under heavy load, and during cache rebuilds the diskcacheAPI never failed to properly shutdown/restart.

Began working on remaining diskCacheAPI problem reports using the tandem-V system as a testbed.

System Testing:

Reran the system level tests  with no unexpected with no unexpected results. Updated the integration and system testing webpage to capture the results. All nightly builds completed without issues in the unit tests. These are also available on the web. Added links to the LDAS project page of the DASWG website to capture these unit, integration and system test results.

Tested if DB2 8.1 still needs the compat-libstdc++ rpm by uninstalling the package on tandem5.  Did not experience any problems when accessing databases using the db2 client or LDAS. Removed the requirement from the DB2 installation documentation, but plan to live the library installed in case of other non-LDAS dependencies.

Working on updating the link checking script by making it smarter and more efficient.

Discussed enhancements to the runLDAS script to allow it to recognize version incompatabilities as happens when only one OS version of DLAS is stowed properly.

Added expected results into metadata exception test so the script can determine the number of tests passed and failed.

Hardware Systems (Anderson)
Caltech
-------
(Dan Kozak)
* Upgraded last of the CIT T3s to latest pSOS/disk firmware.
* Finished deleting data in HPSS that is associated with a science or  engineering run.
* Started copying HPSS data that isn't part of a science or engineering  run.
* Fixed sendmail setup on m27 (Hari's machine).

(Hari Pulapaka)
* Publishing data in the internal LDR datafind server.
* Helping Igor with VDT setup.
* Installing Griis/Giis on ldas-grid.
* Setting the new ldg server on ldas-grid.
* Writing some documentation for LDR.

(Al Wilson)
* Setting up ldas-test-grid.  Unit passed 48 hours of memtest and 48  hours of
  burn in. Now formatting unit for grid system
* Replacing motherboard for dead systems.
* Had to configure systemimager (system) so that it will work with new
  security protocol.  System is available again for all to use.


MIT
---
(Keith Bayer)
* Cloning ldas/condor cluster node to replace failed boxes.
* Continuing to prod LDR to get our highest priority S3 data.
* Held LDR meeting at MIT.


Livingston
----------
(Igor Yakushin)
* Configured ldas-grid to accept user logins using GSI-enabled ssh 
client.
* Replaced two failed T3 disks.
* Disk u1d9 in T3-10 seems to be failing as well.
* Playing with DB2 8.1 on ldas-pcdev1 and ldas-pcdev2 to figure out how
  to set up replication. For some reason installing fixpack 5 made the
  database unusable. Without fixpack, there seems to be a lot of bugs at
  least in the GUI.

Hanford
-------
(Ben Johnson)
* Attended LDR meeting at MIT. The ultimate product of the meeting was  a feature request list, organized by priority and difficulty.
* Possibly fixed problems related to Igor's waveburst jobs failing on the LHO cluster. Failures appeared to be related to inability to 
access   shared libraries on an NFS filesystem (/ldcg).
* Successfully replaced failed drive in old IDE RAID, defiance.
* Installed QFS and various necessary patches on fb0@LHO's new Solaris
  9 install.
* Continuing work on data corruption report.

Data Analysis Activities (Lazzarini)
Creighton:
This week I verified the calculations of epsilon and spindown upper limits for the known pulsar code, and investigated the precision in their ``known'' sky locations.

Mendell:
1) We have added three new links to the S2 investigations page (pages 10, 11, and 12 under the Stack-Slide Search) that summarize our progress since the March 2004 LSC meeting: http://www.lsc-group.phys.uwm.edu/pulgroup/investigations/ s2index.html - stackslide

2) We have moved the StackSlide code into LALApps. It now resides under the lalapps/src/pulsar/StackSlide directory. See README_ComputeStackSlideSums in that directory for how to compile and run the code.

Shawhan:
* Did bookkeeping checks and systematic studies for the binary neutron star inspiral search to be presented at the APS Meeting next week, and discussed these issues with inspiral group members and reviewers
* Reviewed time-domain pulsar analysis which is to be presented at the APS Meeting next week.  Review information can be found at http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~pshawhan/lsc/pulreview/s2td/

Sylvestre:
* Worked on running a grid version of my coherent power filter code. Results are encouraging on Sine Gaussians: ~99% rejection efficiency, ~100% detection efficiency for triggers that are picked up by the ETGs.
*Most of the code is in place for the stand-alone burstdso/tfclusters code. Working on debugging.
* I've been running a number of simulations for the burst analysis.

Weinstein:
- Working on inspiral analysis review for APS talk.
- Working on supernova detection in the galaxy.

Yakushin:
Data analysis:
1) Generated more MDC frames on the whole S2 (BH5, SG12, GA2, ZM1).
2) Testing the new MDC frames with waveburst.
3) Prepared some efficiency plots for Patrick Sutton's presentation at  APS meeting.
4) Met with Giovanni Santostasi from Baton Rouge Community College to  help him to get started on his pulsar figure of merit project at LLO.
5) Preparing for the next week face to face burst meeting at UWM.

General Computing (Wallace)
MIT:
(Keith)
-Investigating hardware compression with AIT3/Solaris
-Built backup scsi drive for caliburn (main fileserver)
-Building separate cvs/web server for ldas MIT group
-Ordered more UPS boxes for GC
-Moved old 'nw22' printer down to control room
-Built print queue for nw22 (ligo-printer-4)

Livingston:
(Tom)
-Shannon has been moving user files to a new disk array. The old array had been crashing about once every ten to fifteen days, which was a problem for a general user file server. The intention is to try to fix the old array, and then use it for user scratch space.
-Shannon has installed an additional switch in the new office building. The original switch was full, and people needed additional network ports.
-We have been upgrading Eudora to the current version.
-Due to the current spate of virus activity at both Caltech and LSU, we have been checking to make sure the PCs have the current security patches and current anti-virus software.

Hanford:
(Christine)
- Network usage can be seen at
http://www.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/~christin/mrtg/ 198.129.208.1_198.129.78.122.html
- Rebuilt one laptop as a result of problems found during Mike's audit.
- Still having problems with a computer that stopped booting Windows last week.  I repaired the Windows files, but it looks like I will have to do a clean re-install.  The computer keeps reporting errors with Explorer and then dumps its memory to disk.
- Working on a problem one user is having with installing the latest version of Eudora.  Some how during install the user lost his inbox. Now Eudora will send e-mail okay, but not receive it.
- Contacted Larry and Lisa about a problem reported by a user that the Ligo Caltech spam filter was blocking an e-mail he wanted.  Turns out this is old news and has already been taken care of.
- Worked with the Cisco rep to get all my Cisco equipment under one contract and to get the contract renewed.
- Researched a problem that two laptop users are having with cursors that have a mind of their own.  One user definitely has a stuck eraser controller, the other reinstalled the drivers and is waiting to see if the problem re-appears.
- Installed the latest versions of several standard PC applications in our "standard system" directory for access by the users.
- Helped several users update their Windows security patches and Norton virus definitions.
- Richard McCarthy is still working with the DOE contractor to get a second fiber pair between LHO and PNNL.  I sent out an update message to all parties involved.  Richard just received the quote for the job and is preparing a work request.  The work should be completed in 30 days.
- The new Unix application license server will be put on line today on both the GC and CDS networks.


CIT:
(Mike)
-Worked on all NTSRV's updating OS/firewall patches and stopping unnecessary services.
-DCC: I worked on the nightly backup workstation due to a hard disk failure. I replaced the hard disk, and was able to restore this workstation from a ghost image. I also updated this workstation with current OS and office patches. I compacted the DCC database and troubleshot some strange system errors that came up upon logging into Antares. -40 meter: Ed and I went over to 40 meter to pick up equipment that was not being used. We moved this over to West Bridge S/B for backup equipment usage.
-Janeen Romie had a problem with SolidWorks. After troubleshooting this installation I ended up having to uninstall this software, and then reinstall. This also required me to reinstall PDMWorks 2004. While I was working on Janeen's computer I updated OS patches and stopped unnecessary services. Plus I also worked on her laptop by updating OS/firewall patches.
-Fumiko had a problem with her PC rebooting itself. After troubleshooting, this seems to be a hardware issue. I have swapped out Fumiko's computer. I also updated OS/office patches.
-Juri Agresti's having a software issue. I corrected this for him, but it looks like I have to load him a much faster/updated PC. I have an approval from Larry Wallace to do this. I am currently working on this installation.
-Moved the PDMWorks server into the GC server room.
-Helped Larry cleaned up some Ethernet cables in the server room.
-Ghosted two servers, Antares, Pherkab, and DCC nightly backup  workstation.
-Synchrotron: I worked on a hardware issue for Magdalena. I also  updated OS service packs for windows.
-Mark Barton, I updated the DSPACE workstation for him. This included OS  and office updates.

(Lisa)
- Worked on spam and spam filters.  We had a couple of incidents this week in which people had problems with mail that were in no way related to the filters. Just as a reminder, there are a lot of things that can go wrong with e-mail (typos, network problems, server outages, other people's filters).
- Many people are still using sirius as a gateway into ligo and as a general purpose login box.  Please do not use sirius for these purposes and use canopus instead.
- Downloaded the latest sol9 images.  Updated the jumpstart server with 
them.
- Jumpstarted a blade1500 for julien.
- Created a new mailman mailing list.
- Attended the ITS monthly security meeting.
- Other misc. user support.

Mail Stats 4/15 - 4/21

Messages Accepted

      17434

Spam Rejected

          9524

Viruses Rejected

       1004

False Positives

        45

Total Mail Thru

        27962


Note: the vast majority of false positives are mailing lists that people are subscribed to.  I am still having a problem with the foreign language email.  I will most likely need to contact software support for our filter program in order to resolve that.

(Larry)
-We have worked a number of hardware issues this past week. This includes surplusing equipment, replacing hard drives, adding memory, making cable modifications and moving equipment around. Also, spent time rearranging and cleaning out a few things in the computer room.
-Assisted a number of users with their local e-mail tool setup. We still have a problem with the windows on a eudora setup. Along the same lines I loaded a couple of PC applications and had to reload the NAV utility on one box.
-Continuing to assist Lisa in her never ending battle against spam. Mainly, contributing to the basian filters but still checking for false-positives when time permits.
-Worked a couple of web issues. Most were minor changes.
-Assisted the DCC with a couple of issues. Also, spent time going over George Stokes work.
-Made a number of purchases and reviewed some of the budget items. Trying to make sure we have enough to purchase a quad cpu box in the near future, this will be added to the sandbox units already in-place.
-Continuing the work on updating the documentation concerning the network and the security plan. Along the same line we are adding items to the list for PC security.
-Continue working on the user accounts. Presently, reworking the group scheme. There is a conflict with the group numbers being used on the different OS's so we will be moving all of the core groups to a higher number range.

(Bruce Sears) Ilog:                                     (4.0 days)

 - Completely reworked the Ilog entry form, adding required fields (optional from group to group).  Added new fields to parser capabilities.


Advanced LIGO and Supporting R&D (Shoemaker)


 

Seismic Isolation

From: Larry Jones <ljones@ligo.caltech.edu>
 

Advanced LIGO Seismic Structure

SEI Structure:

ASI has sent a letter to LIGO expressing their concern that technical issues have not been defined contractually. In Feb 04, a draft of version -02 of the BSC structure design requirements was issued to ASI, containing many modifications. Since then, other modifications have been communicated by e-mail. Additional issues are yet unresolved. With the BSC Design Review just 3 weeks away, ASI feels that "LIGO is at significant risk for cost and schedule impacts until these issues are contractually definitized". We will be discussing this with ASI by telephone on 29 April and working diligently to resolve the unresolved issues and to satisfy ASI's desire for contractual definitization.

ASI has reported difficulty in meeting the design requirement for stiffness (phase requirement) of Stage 0, and has requested LIGO's review and comments. Modifying the design to meet the requirements is a major task (perhaps impossible, within our mass limitations); it's possible that we would agree to relax the requirement, but guidance is needed very soon.

ASI is still in the process of re-planning the project cost and schedule with the HAM structure fabrication removed from the task.

LIGO has requested that the STS-2 pod bays in the BSC structure be increased in height by 2.5 cm to allow for more flexibility in choice of seismometers in the future. Pod redesign, if desired, is deferred until later. This decision was made based on ASI's assurance that costs would be minimal.

The Design Review meeting for the BSC structure is scheduled for May 18, 2004. Delivery at LASTI of the BSC prototype is expected to be in November, 2004.


Actuators:

Actuator connections have been defined: 2' hookup leads with Teflon insulation, soldered to mag wires, with joint potted.

PSI is expected to deliver actuator interface drawings to LIGO by April 29.


Position Sensors:

Jay has sent the sensor/module setup diagram to ADE for their comments.


Seismometers:

Nothing new.


Galling/Dusting Test:

Nothing new.

 


From: Jay Heefner <jay@ligo.caltech.edu>
 

AdL SEI
===========================
- We measured the output noise of a modified voice coil actuator and it appears to meet the requirements. A plot of the noise can be found in the SEI elog.
- A block diagram of the proposed capacitive position sensor layout has been sent to ADE for comment.

AdL SUS
===========================
- Wiring diagrams and rack layout drawings for the MC triple controls to be installed in LASTI are ~75% complete.

Suspension

From: Janeen Romie <romie_j@ligo.caltech.edu>
 

AdLIGO Suspensions

MC to LASTI in June
Coordinating with many key folks on preparing for the mode cleaner triple suspension to go to LASTI in June.

Hybrid Osems
Twenty-five aluminum hybrid osem formers/heads arrived from the University of Glasgow (thank you, Russell) this morning. Helena is cleaning them now. The coil winding house in Rosemead, TurboJet Products, did not quote, so I made a PR for Corona Magnetics. Ruth will fax the PO this afternoon. Helena and I will visit Corona Magnetics tomorrow. We will tour their facilities and confirm that they are capable of meeting our cleaning and handling requirements. They promise delivery on Friday, May 7th, at which time one of us will go and pick up the parts. They will be inspected and turned over to Bob Taylor for assembly. We are currently on schedule for delivery of the hybrid osems for the MC testing at LASTI in June.

Suspension Gazebo
It is due here tomorrow. We will have to reorganize the suspensions area in the Synchrotron to provide adequate access to it.

Suspensions Controls Prototype Testing Plan
I've incorporate all changes but I am still waiting for clarification on a few issues from Mark Barton and Caroline Cantley. I reminded them on Tuesday, again.

Primavera
I've completed the Primavera updates for Suspensions through the end of March, with input from many parties, and sent them off to Thomas.

Catcher Development
We are preparing for Russell Jones visit here for the second week of May. Parts are at the machine shops now to be ready at the end of next week.

Eddy Current Dampers
Calum, Jay and I tested a 4x4 eddy current damper on a ~40kg mass and got good results. I will be working on lightweight 4x4 ECD design this week.


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

Advanced LIGO Suspensions

1) Design Meeting
We held the 9th quad design meeting, notes can be found at the following link: -
http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~ctorrie/QUAD_ETM/quad_etm%2520setup%20page2.html
        
2) Blade Committee
Norna, Justin, Mike Plissi and I met to discuss the blades for the controls prototype. We plan to try and agree on a process and have a design for the 31st May 2004.

3) Test Mass etc ...
I have been continuing to work ton the penultimate  and penultimate reaction mass. In particular incorporating the global control osems, the magnet assemblies and the ability to add and remove mass to the penultimate reaction mass.

4) Eddy Current Dampers
Janeen, Jay and I measured the Q of a 4x4 array eddy current damper (using the original solid copper design) on a single pendulum of 40 kg to be Q ~ 6. Norna confirmed this fits with theory.
Full report to follow. Work has re-started on designing a lightweight 4x4 assembly for the controls prototype quadruple pendulum.

5) Progress
The suspension team met with Thomas to report on progress up to and including the end of March.

6) MPL and I met to discuss the top and upper intermediate mass assembly wrt the blade design.


Core Optics

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

From CSIRO.
A report will be sent next week on work done until now on film stoichiometry.

From LMA
2 sapphire substrates, one commercially polished and the other super-polished, coated with doped Ta2O5 are being shipped to Glasgow before the end of this week.
Work has started on dopant modifications.

Other Laboratory R&D

From: Riccardo DeSalvo desalvo@ligo.caltech.edu


Barbara

 

This week we are assembling the thermal box for the interferometer and the vacuum tank wood supports.

We have received the 3 new invar rods (replacing the ones that we rejected earlier because were out of tolerances) but unfortunately one of them has been destroyed during the machining at the central machine shop, we are now waiting for another one.

Since we do not trust anymore the Invar provider we will test the Invar before assemplying it.  We have prepared a mechanical setup to test the thermal expansion coefficient of the invar.

We are also preparing the part list to assemble the electronic circuit to drive the piezoelectric actuators, this is a modified Osem driver.

Next week, probably on Tuesday Franco Frasconi of Virgo will perform the vacuum test of the vacuum tank in Lucca, so end of the next week all the remaining mechanical will be ready to be  sent here.

 

Optics:

All the optics for a spherical cavity are in house.

We had a meeting with Mackowsky and agreed on a production plan for the mex-hat.  We will build flat mexican hat mirrors (the original plan, as opposed to mexican hat profiles deposited on spherical mirrors matching the new Advanced LIGO concentric cavity design).  We received a bid for the blanks that did not completely match the LMA requirements for the mex-hats.  We asked for a second offer including the correct requirements.

After receiving the new offer and final approval from LAM, the delivery time is about 8-10 weeks.  The LMA will be ready to start the mex-hat development.

  

Maddalena

 

This week I have finished to build the thermal compensation circuit and I did some frequency response measurements obtaining a resonant frequency  about 70 mHz. I could not go below because of an instability due to the presence of a bug in the circuit. I'm going to make an other circuit that should fix this instability.

I'm also simulating the circuit with Design Explorer DXP software to check it and to see how it can be improved.

Moreover I'm preparing to analyze the thermal compensation correction in function of the temperature, I will use the Lab View data acquisition, to measure the behavior of the spring with the temperature.

 

Juri:

 

I studied some papers about Flattened Gaussian Beams and Super Gaussian Beams to compare with our method to obtain a Flat-Top Beam. I am studying analitically the effect of relative transverse and angular shift of the beam in a cavity that supports a flat-top beam and compare with numerical results from Mathematica. The aim is to understand the coupling between higher modes in this misaligned cavity.

I calculated the power distribution, the mirror’s shape, and diffraction losses, for mesa-beams of different spot size and made a comparison with the baseline design of our Prototype Interferometer.

I applied for GR17 conference submitting two abstracts: one about the theoretical work done with Erika D’Ambrosio on the equivalence relation between different mesa-beam optical cavities and application of the results to evaluate misalignments effect. The other abstract is about the Flat-Top Beam Interferometer prototype under construction.

 

 

 


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