Weekly Report for Week Ending April 21, 2005

The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday April 25, 2005 will be:

(Meeting time: 10:30 am Pacific Time)  

  1. Announcements
  2. Comments on Weekly Report
  3. LSC Issues (Saulson)
  4. LIGO Lab Operations
      • Administration (Lindquist)
      • Sites (Raab, Zucker, Shoemaker)
      • Commissioning (Fritschel), Detector (Coyne)
      • Campus Research Facilities
        1. 40 Meter (Weinstein)
        2. TN, ( Libbrecht)
        3. LASTI  (Shoemaker)
      • Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)
  5. R&D and Advanced LIGO (Shoemaker)
  6. CHANGE CONTROL BOARD/TECHNICAL REVIEW BOARD SESSION AS NEEDED

Special Items:

Special Announcements:

Safety Review at Hanford May 2, 2005.

Weekly Report Highlights

LSC Issues (Saulson)

No report

LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

Status of LSC MOUs (Petrac)

LSC MOUs and Research Plans and Progress Reports

  • LSC MOUs / Attachment updates for Feb. 15 2005 through Aug. 15, 2005:  The updates for all active Attachments for all current non-LIGO LSC groups are in the sign-off by the LSC Spokesperson / P. Saulson.

Non-LSC MOUs

  • No report.

SITE TELECONFERENCE (Lindquist)

A site teleconference was held on Thursday, April 7, 2005.  The following issues were among those discussed:

  • Action No. 124: The Tax Tree has been provided to Fred Raab.  Comments have been returned and are being incorporated.  The revision will be distributed for comment and then used to update the Procedures Manual in an effort to get that document distributed.
  • Travel Training for Livingston: Ed to contact Bonnie and check with Travel People at Caltech to ascertain schedules.
  • The list of assigned actions updated through March 10, 2005 will be found Here.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Chargois)

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

  • Assisted the Detector Group (H, Armandula) with packing and shipping of two (2) AR coated Substrates (BS01-02 and BS02-06) to Stanford University (R.Route) for absorption measurements.  Account Number P204296.
  • Assisted the Detector Group (P. King) with shipping of a Signal Analyzer, Serial Number 46506, to Stanford Research Systems for repair.  Account Number P204324.
  • Assisted General Computing with packing and shipping of a Dell Laptop Computer to LLO, R.Riesen/S.Roddy.  L. Jones previously used this computer.  Account Number P204275.
  • Campus Property Inventory Continues.

DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner, Mak)

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

  • No report.

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

  • packages: in - 10, out - 7
  • faxes: in - 29, out - 21
  • No special projects to report.

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

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

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

  • Reconciled 12 pcard transactions for the month of April 2005 totaling $3,639.16 and submitted to management. Obtained copies of missing invoices and the obtained the credit for the educational discount from New Focus that was not applied to the original invoices.
  • Prepared the Release of Claims and submitted it to MLD.
  • Completed change order #160 to Triad for a rate increase change. No additional funds were allocated. Requested and received updated certificates.
  • Cancelled the Pratt requisition as it has already been renewed on the pcard.
  • Working on the order to Mitsubishi.

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

  • Nothing significant to report.

>From: Florence Kaufman <fkaufman>

  • Received notification that NSF has approved the balance of the funds for FY05.  Responded to request from Sponsored Research to show how these funds should be allocated to the budgets in the LIGO accounts.
  • Completed and sent out reports for DIA, Low Noise, MIT GRID, and AJL.INT awards as of the end of March 2005.
  • Financial reports can be found at: http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport. (For passwords contact Florence)

SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Petrac, Jasnow)

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

  • No report.

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

  • There appear to be additional issues with the LSU/NSF lease amendment as raised by LSU's attorney.  Sandy Pool, Caltech Associate General Counsel, is pursuing these issues and hopes to have resolution shortly.  In the meantime, we do not have an executed amendment.  [Whoops, late breaking news: Ed just spoke to Sandy Pool, and he had just received the executed amendment to the LSU/NSF lease.  Sandy will bring the lease by tomorrow, and Ed will mail copies--pel.]
  • The LLO SEC architect, EDR, has pre-qualified six construction contractors to bid on the Sec construction.  EDR will submit the 50% completion drawings tomorrow, and they are still on track to submit the 100% drawings by the end of May.

SUPPORT (Baldon, Hiroto, Lloyd)

>Irene Baldon

  • Processed the paper work for nine (9) new/revised trips.  At this time there are thirty (30) new trips that need to be completed and ticketed before the paper work can be completed.  Assisted several LIGO personnel with their travel arrangements using their P-Cards and made several reservations for outside visitors coming to LIGO/Caltech for meetings and/or workshops.  LIGO will be sponsoring thirty-eight (38) SURF Students this summer and I have already started arranging these trips.  We have twenty-six (26) coming to LIGO/Caltech, seven (7) to LIGO/Hanford, and five (5) to LIGO/Livingston.
  • Completed seventeen (17) Expense Reports and there are four (4) reports yet to be done.  I continue to contact travelers who have outstanding Expense Reports (more than one (1) month old) to ask for their cooperation in sending me their receipts so that these can be closed in a timely manner.  Presently there are three (3) reports more than 30 days old.

>Julie Hiroto jhiroto@ligo.caltech.edu

  • No special activities to report.

>Dorothy Lloyd

  • Nothing significant to report..
  • Jim continued with data entry in the LIGO database and helping out in the DCC.

PROPOSALS and REPORTS (Lindquist)

The Annual Report for the Visitors Program is basically complete and entered into FastLane ready to “push the button.”

A proposed draft has been distributed for outlines for the Annual Report for Operations and a Proposal for an Extension for FY 2007 and FY 2008.  Some comments have been returned.  We will begin working these documents pretty furiously between now and August 1.

DCC Steering Committee (Lindquist)

No document management systems demonstrations could be scheduled this week.  We did meet to discuss status and possible system demonstrations next week (April 27, 2005).

Two document management systems demonstrated so far appear promising, OpenEDMS and Synergy.  Synergy only supports an Internet Explorer web browser and appears closely married to Microsoft applications.  It does work well on Internet Explorer.  The system is polished and would require minimal training.  They have provided a quote for a FireFox version at some extra cost.  Some have tested Synergy with other browsers, and they do not appear to work.

OpenEDMS does not guarantee that browsers other than Microsoft Explorer will work, but they are poised to release a LINUX version.  It was noted that the higher cost systems tend to provide the support for multiple browser platforms.

Two additional document management systems are interesting.  Agile (GO Engineering) is scheduled for a demonstration next Wednesday.  GO Engineering already gets high marks for their support of some of our CAD systems and they seem motivated to help us.

The other possibility is a document management system developed by Xerox called TokOpen.  On the surface it appears to meet our general requirements.  Linda has forwarded our requirements and general vendor questions to the TokOpen representative for a cost estimate.  It appears we would require several of the modules to meet our requirements, which may place this system on the higher priced end.

We will coordinate the demonstration for Agile next week and will distribute additional information as it becomes available.

CHANGE CONTROL/CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT (Lindquist)

  • No open change requests.

HUMAN RESOURCES (Akutagawa)

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

  • No special activities to report.

Quality/Safety (Tyler)

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

  • Nothing significant to report.  There will be a safety audit at Hanford on May 2, 2005.  A proposed agenda has been distributed for comment.

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

Summary of Commissioning Activities at LIGO Hanford Observatory (Landry)

Highlights from this week in elogs are bulleted below:

4K IFO

  • a thermal camera could not see the heat produced by the interferometer on the 4k ITMX
  • cavity pole measurements using techniques other than ringdowns were begun on the 4k, and continued here
  • saturations in demod boards may produce upconversions: a study to replicate wind-induced noise suggests this
  • the x-arm thermal compensation system (TCS) central heating calibration is comprehensively reviewed in this elog, complete with handy background material and artwork.  Later, the y-arm was done.
  • g-factor measurements continue apace
  • carrier and sideband buildup during IFO powerup are plotted

2K IFO

  • ASPD1 was modified after the photodiodes were characterized
  • shot noise was measured on the 2k, input to a simple noise budget
  • the 2k main oscillator was swapped, with zero effect on the noise
  • new DARM filters mean the 2k calibration has to be updated
  • larger unity gains on 2k WFS are being applied, as was recently done on L1.  Followup for WFS2 was sketched here.
  • One of the mainline experiments performed this week was the power-up into the interferometer.  Power was ultimately increased to 2.8W, but unfortunately this had almost no effect on the calibrated noise curve.  Instead, another noise source is exposed, possibly oscillator phase noise, and the shot noise is likely below the SRD.
  • 39.33MHz is seen on the 2k AS photodiodes

Outreach (D. Ingram)

LHO, the Tri-City Astronomy Club and Columbia Basin College's Moore Observatory joined forces for a National Astronomy Day program that was well attended in spite of cloudy weather that prevented sky viewing.  Thanks to several LHO staff who helped.

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

No report.

Initial LIGO Detector Science & Engineering (Coyne)

CDS

see also the CDS weekly meeting minutes in the commissioning archives

CDS Software

no report

CDS Hardware

LSC RFPD

Ben Abbott

1) Todd is working on some PDs that will be tuned to 24.5 MHz and 29.5 MHz.

2) I ordered boxes from Compac.  They should be ready for machining in 6 weeks.

E-O Fiber-based Timing Link

Peter King

I have spent quite a bit of time trying to understand how to drive the serial data analyzer that we rented to measure the timing jitter from the electro-optic fiber-based timing system.  The instrument did not have the latest bug fixes in the firmware, which led to some measurements bombing out every now and then.  Things have been sorted out now and measurements of the fabricated units can proceed.

(no other reports)

DMT

John Zweizig

This week I have been generating data quality segments for Wind (LHO ony so far) acoustic noise and optical coupling between IFOs (i.e. when H1 is lock and H2 in unlocked). I have also started to upgrade DMT infrastructure with the goal of generating ONline data quality information for S5.

PSL

PeterKing

The long-term photodetector test continues.  So far so good.  No obvious problems.

Dave Grimmett tested out a little signal processing circuit for me.  The transfer functions were within expected values and the unit performed just fine.  Although there was a slight problem with the power supply.

Optical Contamination Cavities

Lee Cardenas, Liyuan Zhang

OTF Lab. (W. Bridge)   No Change

Cavity # 1

This chamber still locked with two samples, white Ceramabond, and disks of TRA-BOND #2254 color light brown epoxy. Cavity is clean!  We are waiting on new samples to be tested for contamination.

Absorption Test Measurement prototype  in standby

Scatterometer system  in progress
\We have completed so far the scanning of the following fused silica mirrors: 4ITM04, 4ITM05, AND 4ITM08 and the one that give the lowest scattering  loss ~30ppm is the 4ITM05 and this is the one we'll concentrate to do the rest of the measurements.

The new HEPA is ready to be installed after wiring completed for power.

The Quantronix 60 watt laser    It is shut down for now

OTF Lab at Lauritsen ROOM 38 

Cavity #3 
The contamination test for (20) pieces of Glenair Micro-D-connectors still in progress.  Cavity is locked and we are taking measurements  for absorption and ring down for contamination loss every day. So far so good. It needs another month and a half to go before the test is completed.

Cavity #2  in progress

40 Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)

IFO commissioning:

  • Having fixed a bunch of problems, Osamu has once again succeeded in DC-transmission locking of both arms while the dual-recycled Michelson (DRMI) is locked, thus controlling all 5 length degrees of freedom. Lock holds for up to ~ 5 minutes at a time.
  • It was taking a while to lock the Y arm; Osamu concluded that this was because the arm is too quiet (in the middle of the night, with STACIS off). He tried pushing ITMY with the LSC system and was able to acquire lock quickly.
  • This is interesting: seismic noise is so low at night that we need to push the mirror to lock! Is it believable? Rana, Rob and Monica measured mirror velocity with a free-swinging Michelson; at 6pm (rush hour) it was around 3 um/s. In the middle of the night, it could be 10x less; to be measured. If this is right, it means that we need neither STACIS nor a suspension point interferometer.
  • Osamu is now working on using POX and POY to transfer control of the arms from the DC offset transmission lock to RF lock, so that we can smoothly move the arms to their resonant peak; at that point, we hope to achieve power recycling and RSE (if we can hold lock long enough!).
  • The problem with POX and POY is that the signals from the 2 arms are almost completely coupled; so it is hard to keep control. Work will begin soon on getting good CARM and DARM signals in the presence of the DRMI.
  • Steve and Osamu made more tests of the noise on ITMX, which seems anomalously high. There is a large coupling from pitch and yaw motion to the side OSEM sensor. Perhaps the OSEMs are optically coupled to one another? They turned on and off individual OSEM LEDs and saw no anomalous cross-couplings from OSEM to OSEM. From ringdowns, there's no evidence of mechanical problems like touching. Perhaps the side OSEM magnet is mis-placed somehow?
  • Osamu found that the clearest monitor of the noise from ITMX motion to the main beam comes from the SP QPD, despite a lot of extraneous noise there. He was able to reduce the noise by reducing the OSEM damping gain on ITMX. Noise on the oplevs was also reduced. We conclude that the damping gain was too high, tying the optic too tightly to the shaky stack. Osamu will try to optimize the damping gain of ITMX, and then try to do the same for the other optics.
  • Dan is preparing to move the SP RFPDs from the SP table to the AP table (much shorter beam path). He and Bob ran some cables. The RF cables need to be heliax; Bob will order some more.
  • Monica is working on calibrating LSC signals using a method suggested by Rana.
  • If we implement a suspension point interferometer, we'll want to actuate on the stacks to lock it, thus reducing the differential motion between the ITM and ETM tables in each arm. We plan to actuate using the STACIS PZTs. Virginio is drawing up a plan and proposal. He has figured out how the STACIS boards work and where a signal can be brought in. Steve has had no luck getting schematics from the STACIS manufacturers (TMC).
  • Riccardo proposes replacing the STACIS with inverted pendula as a platform for actuation. Steve forwarded information on the chambers and stacks to Ric so that he can make a design proposal.
  • If we implement a suspension point interferometer, we'll borrow some of the light power now going to the "initial pointing" beams. Steve and Virginio measured the power in those beams (around 9 mW from a 1.5 W input beam). and calibrated the QPD_SUMs that monitor them.

IFO modeling and DC detection development:

  • Monica found a problem with her use of the PSD module in e2e by comparing with transfer functions of e2e data computed in matlab. She now knows how to use the PSD module correctly.
  • Monica is modeling the transfer function from Mach Zehnder noise to the AP port.
  • Monica is using the implementation of radiation pressure in e2e to understand/simulate the optical spring effect.
  • Rob continues to study quantum noise and Tom Corbitt's code.
  • Rob continues to develop controls wrappers for Finesse.
  • Important side projects, waiting in the wings: (1) design and implementation of DC detection system, including output mode cleaner, mode matching telescope, DC photodiode; (2) possible suspension-point interferometer; (3) servo to keep RF sidebants at resonant peak in the mode cleaner; (4) commissioning the new ASC system, including initial pointing servo and WFS; (5) analysis of and reduction in Mach Zehnder noise; (6) calibration of all LSC signals, noise analysis in various IFO configurations; (7) common mode servo; (8) suspension diagonalization, coil balancing; (9) suspension damping gain optimization; (10) calibration of all OSEM dofs, oplevs, LSC signals, ASC signals.

PSL:

  • Dan is trying to determine the causes of ISS drifting and saturation. There is a complex coupling between the ISS and the PSL FSS, Mach Zehnder, and Mode Cleaner. He will try to develop good diagnostics and maybe a slow loop (or alarm) to re-acquire lock in the Mach Zehnder when the ISS saturates.
  • Ben will look into getting a spare ISS board to see if it works better than the one we have, which has large offset drifts.

Electronics, controls:

  • Osamu noted that the TRX, TRY QPDs have insufficient dynamic range to function both during lock acquisition and control. He changed resistors on the QPD heads to change the gains. He noted a lot of dust on the QPD photodiodes!
  • Osamu noticed that the EPICS x/y plots for the QPDs come from EPICS monitoring, not the front end, and they have large offsets and thus are not reliable. Ben is working on getting front end monitoring signals (whose offsets are zeroed) into the EPICS plots.
  • We rely on ezcademod for various lock acquisition and diagnostic studies. However, it sometimes gets garbage numbers (due to flaky ethernet connections?) causing the front end to crash, requiring reboot and re-alignment; a big problem. Rob will see if we can fix the ezcademod code (in consultation with Stefan and Alex) and replace the suspected ethernet hub.
  • On Thursday, Ben helped Sander place his FO Timing link modules in place in both ends, and the vertex SUS crate. They were not powered up, or cabled in, just set in place. Bob ran FO cables to the various racks.
  • Then on Friday, Ben and Jay and hooked up and tested the FO timing link. Simple tests showed that it is functioning. More in-depth testing will be performed by Sander once he learns how to use the test equipment that he rented.
  • Ben replaced the 1mm photodiode in the 166MHz RFPD at the AP, and it now works again. It looks like the photodiode got fried.
  • Ben has filters boards for the frequency multiplier circuit. He will stuff and test it soon.
  • Ben is getting a new 166MHz RFPD for the SP, and Dan and Bob will run the cables. The electronics chain and LSC software should all be in place for it.
  • Ben is checking on progress in new RevB coil drivers for our BS, PRM, SRM. Some components are no longer available and they may be able to scavenge parts for 2 of the 3 boards.

Bake oven Lab:

  • Bob made 2 doz pin plates for hybrid osems for janeen.
  • Bob's bake oven lab will be ripped apart to put in new large air bake oven (for AdvLIGO suspension work). The lab will be shut down through May. Everything should be back up by June 15, when Bob is scheduled to be baking a large AdLIGO load.
  • Bob has obtained a work order and met with the shops, and is rearranging some equipment and storing supplies, in preparation for the remodeling and installation of the large oven.
  • Bob has constructed a new seven channel temperature/ vacuum controller for oven "E".
  • Bob has received and is baking the parts for a Optical Coating Jig for Helena.
  • Bob expects to receive a LOS Structure tomorrow, Thursday, to clean and Bake from Hanford.

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Black)

Nothing significant to report this week.

LASTI (Ottaway)

No report.

Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)

Simulation and Modeling (Bhawal)

FFT simulation

(Hiro) Addendum to the talk given last week was circulated to the  commissioning group.  The note demonstrates that the phases of Carrier  and Sidebands, not only the magnitude, are insensitive to input beam  mode status.  The note also contains a table of various overlapping  integral of Carrier and Sidebands.

Keita wanted to run FFT himself for his analysis, so a simple setup was provided for him to carry out FFT runs easily.

Some FFT runs are going to relate various losses in Core Optics and  the Carrier recycling gain.

Outreach: Input Optics simulation

(Biplab) Helped Sany Yoshida and his students at Southern Louisiana University to solve all outstanding problems and issues related to proper integration of the Input Optics simulation set-up inside SimLIGO. The Feedback to Mode Matching Telescopes(MMT) and study of the effects of MMT motion on interferometer are the next steps.

Mechanical simulation

(Mark Barton) I continued to run test cases on the E2E boxes I built to represent the AdvLIGO triple and quad pendulums. I also took delivery of and have been reviewing a Mathematica package by Ben Lee (of David Blair's group at University of Western Australia) which implements violin modes in a quite different way from the beads-on-a-massless-wire approach I've been pursuing. He solves the full equation for an elastic beam with mass under tension for the modes in the frequency range of interest and then combines the results with the output of my pendulum toolkit to give realistic thermal noise plots.

Simulation Framework for Advanced LIGO

(Matt) Worked on simulation framework for Advanced LIGO.  Thus far this is only a shell; a collection of placeholders to be filled in by the designers of each sub-system.  Documentation on the organizational structure of the simulation is also underway.

Simulation of 40 m interferometer

(Monica) Solved the problem of discrepancies between e2e and Twiddle transfer functions for minor signals: the psd module works fine when the system is stable.  Previous simulations started at a trigger time too short for the minor signals, so the first averages done by the psd module were not trustable. Minor signals take longer to get stable than the main signals because their cavity pole is at a lower frequency than the one of the main signals that have been recovered from the beginning.

Simulation with e2e of the effect of the Mach-Zehnder noise in terms of DARM degree of freedom: results are compared to the simulation done by Seiji Kawamura with Finesse.

Squeezed Light in e2e ?

(Biplab) Exploring the possibility of implementing the 2-photon formalism for simulation of quantum fields inside interferometer models [Ref. Corbitt, Chen, Mavalvala, LIGO-P030070] in e2e without making too much modification in code at this point of time to test some elementary results related to the use of squeezed light for reducing shot noise.

e2e programming

(Hiro) Codes are being developed for the fast dual recycling cavity simulation and for the support of different time steps [generalization of the Analogue to Digital Converter(ADC)and the reverse (DAC) process] transparently.

Alfi

(Bruce) - Working on speed issues for save and node validation.

  • Many minor misc items brought up by users currently using Alfi heavily.

(Melody) Continuing on fixing existing Problem Reports.  Currently working on the user interface for allowing the user to choose the display for primitive nodes:  graphic or text.  Working on an option to display the rename/delete dialogs to be displayed only once.  Modified the FUNC_X document for review.

Data Analysis Activities (Lazzarini)

Charlton:

I have written a script to automate running the stochastic pipeline in Condor. The script takes as input:

1) a file containing the list of science segments obtained from SegWizard (the same jobs file used by stochastic.m)

2) the stochastic search parameters file (the same parameters file used by stochastic.m)

3) some other parameters to tell it where to put the products and produces:

a) frame cache files suitable for stochastic.m

b) a DAG file for running the stochastic analysis jobs

Cache files will only be generated if they don't already exist, except if the --force option is enabled. This saves having to talk to the LSC datafind server every time the stochastic pipeline is run.  This has now been checked into CVS in the matapps hierarchy. Further minor changes will probably be necessary as we discover problems/annoyances.

Other activities:

-         code review for the stochastic group

-         reviewing GWDAW paper for CQG

Creighton:

I finished an improved work unit validator for Einstein@home that now rejects only 0.3% of results, rather than 1% for the previous validator.  I've also committed a validator comparison program that can compare the results of any two (or more) versions of the validation code.

Mendell:

Validation of the StackSlide code is going well. I had planned to post a report on this on the CW/pulsar group investigations page this week, and hope to do that before next week's CW/pulsar telecon.

Mandic:

I worked on a set of scripts and routines in tcl and matlab designed to calculate the coherence and transfer functions between two channels on very long time-scales (e.g. the calculation for all of S4 can be done in less than 1 hour). I used the code to study the correlation between H1 and H2 AS_Q channels, the inter-site correlations (AS_Q-AS_Q, AS_Q-PEM, and PEM-PEM channels at LLO and LHO), and the OPLEV-AS_Q correlations at LLO.

Some of the results are posted in the stochastic ILOG.

Shawhan:

-         Worked on finalizing S2 untriggered LIGO-only burst search paper.

-         Fixed the ldasjob package in LIGOtools to capture job information properly for all LDAS connection methods, including the "persistent" socket connections, which are now used by default.

Yakushin:

Working on rearranging waveburst offline infrastructure to make it easier to use and review.

LIGO Data Analysis System

Software Systems (Blackburn)

LDAS:

Worked on PR 2724 for the controlMonitorAPI's client to allow the modification of resource variables. ALso worked on PR2617 to fix the headers for resource variables and PR 2336 to allow sorting of data by clicking on a table's column.

Discovered with the help of Greg Mendell that the changes to the createRDS command to support a more flexible set of input frames through the use of a new framequery option are still buggy and introduce several unexpected failures and results. Will need to resolve this this week.

Fixed PR2799 so that FrVerify now displays checksum values with an error is found.

Fixed PR1976 to provide clearer error messages from inconsistent ILWD object dimensions.

Closed out PR2814 to document and update SINSTALL rules to fix FIREFOX security hole.

Worked on several PRs that are associated with enhancing LDAS commands to allow for compression of frames produced by LDAS and to make the default to compress these frames.

Began testing code for PR2751 to allow logging of the md5sum values for all frames generated by LDAS's createRDS command. Also began testing code for better support of untested compilers in the build of FrameCPP (PR2813) and code for improving the history structure for frame files written by LDAS associated with PR1388.

Ran the weekly integration and system tests on LDAS version 1.5.45.  Found the problem in the test script that was causing the lsync test to fail two thirds of the time and fixed it. Added verification of default compression levels to the compression tests. Investigated why the old frame-to-ilwd tests were no longer running and updated them to work with newer APIs in LDAS, but need to find the input data for running the jobs lost with Isaac.

TCLGLOBUS:

Fixed the problem with callback functions that need to receive a correct  result after completing the FTP operation. Those functions are:

a. globus_ftp_client_size(),

b. globus_ftp_client_cksm() and

c. globus_ftp_client_modification_time()

Placed new web documentation on how to download, build and install TclGlobus in preparation for the first alpha release (May 1, 2005).  Worked on verifying nightly tarball distribution (will do some more testing this week).

OSG:

Discovered one of the issues preventing Condor jobs from running on the worker nodes - the VO accounts had not been replicated onto the worker nodes.

Also discovered that the inet.d was starting up multiple copies of several OSG services, probably due to a bug in the upgrade procedures.

Still an issue with submitting jobs remotely and with using the OSG-GK for third party GRIDFTP jobs.

Responded to questions from OSG leads concerning the plans for LSC Grid3 computing resources after passing response through the Computing Committee. A follow-up set of question has just been received which will require a second round of discussion with the compute committee and the OSG.

Hardware Systems (Anderson)

Caltech

(Phil Ehrens)

  • Incidental support of Subversion users.
  • PR #2818 - mpiAPI is blind to wrapper API initialization failures.  CLOSED
  • PR #2791 - getFrameData and concatFrameData data should support compression. They do now, via the new -compression type and -compression level options to these two commands.  Default values are controlled by the new frame API resource variables ::FRAMEDEFAULTCOMPRESSIONMETHOD and ::FRAMEDEFAULTCOMPRESSIONLEVEL.  Documentation to follow shortly.  FEEDBACK
  • PR #2788 - The output action should support creating frames with compression enabled.  A side effect of the fix for PR #2791 was the default creation of compressed frame files, partially satisfying this problem report. Ongoing work is being done to extend the output type syntax to support specification of compression mode and level. ANALYZED
  • Migrated my desktop workstation from the Solaris box "dziban" to the Fedora Core 3 box "tarazed". Fedora Core 3 does not support termcap, so some console applications did not migrate cleanly.

(Stuart Anderson)

  • Working with Sun on a few SAM-QFS 4.3 issues.
  • Working with Scott Koranda on an LDR queue starvation problem.
  • Continued working on standardizing the cluster matlab installation.
  • Started testing loaner 10Gigabit Ethernet cards.

MIT

(Keith Bayer)

  • Tested and reset matlab licenses on ldas for grid and ldas-pcdev1.
  • Getting T3 units put onto existing maintenance contract.

Livingston

(Igor Yakushin)

  • T3 u1d2@t3-13 failed.
  • Got 5 replacement drives from Maxtor (to replace 160Gb and 200Gb drives they sent me two 250 Gb and three 300Gb drives).

Hanford

(Greg Mendell)

  • A special FSR (Free Spectral Range) RDS data set for S4 is being generated at CIT. The data set is also being published at CIT and is currently being transferred to LHO. The channels included are LSC-AS3_Q_1FSR, LSC-AS3_I_1FSR, LSC-AS4_Q_1FSR, LSC-AS4_I_1FSR, LSC-AS3_Q_2FSR, LSC-AS3_I_2FSR, LSC-AS4_Q_2FSR, and LSC-AS4_I_2FSR for H1, H2, and L1.
  • Otherwise, I am working on enhancements to the createrds driver scripts.

(Ben Johnson)

  • Finished bourne shell version of lscsoft user env init script. Still need to complete csh version.
  • Fixed some matlab problems that Keith Thorne brought up. Namely updating license.dat to reflect the new curve fitting toolbox license, and updated ldas-pcdev1's environment to be current with ldas-grid's.
  • Testing new lfnChangePSet code, to help alleviate the LDR queue starvation at Caltech.
  • I've been mirroring the cluster disks with dd, such that /dev/hdb is an exact mirror of /dev/hda. /etc/fstab has been reconfigured with device names instead of LABEL entries.
  • Publishing FSR data at Caltech and retrieving it from CIT. Started new 'CIT_S4' pset.

General Computing (Wallace)

MIT:

(Keith)

  • Upgraded Myron's computer to XP
  • Setup daily backup utility to 2nd hdd
  • Continuing LDAP investigation
  • Added guest account for visitor (travasso)
  • Looked into printing trouble

Livingston:

(Shannon)

  • Working on the new router.  Enough hardware has trickled in this week for me to be able to get it going.  I hope that in the next few days I can make the switch over.  This should improve stability.  I have had some issues with the Syskonnect cards & drivers, and also a couple of Linux/Dell compatibility problems, but they are mostly resolved.  I will be working some late nights until I get this going.  I will make the switch over late at night when it will not affect any one.  This router will take the place of three pieces of hardware right now - the WAN router, the PIX for GC networking, and the CDS router.  By consolidating I hope to fix some buggy behavior on our network.
  • Starting to revisit the the NIS+/LDAP and mail server replacement issues.  I am working on setting up a test server in between working on the router. Over the next few days I will be testing and compiling notes on this.
  • Fixed a problem on abundance which was causing issues with an rsync process.  Added some new rules on our firewall which will improve logging and will also send me an alert if any windows machines on site start scanning windows ports on the internet.
  • Going through more Sun documentation on LDAP, RBAC, BSC, Sun Java Enterprise Messaging & Calendar servers.
  • Spent quite a while on the phone tracking down invoices for Pcard this week.  Most vendors are simple, some are all but impossible to get a hard copy of an invoice out of them.

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
  • Set up a new laptop.  Ordered a new desktop.
  • Tracked down a runaway print job which a user started but then didn't know which computer they were logged into when they started the print job.
  • Restored from backup tape a file which a user accidentally deleted.
  • Researched and found a "How To" document for a user who wanted to password protect folders in their public_html.
  • Purchased and installed a new Matlab toolbox on the license server.  Reviewed a quote for renewal of the Matlab maintenance contracts.
  • Left several phone messages and sent an email to my contact at Amerion regarding my request for information on our requested backup network.  Reviewed a proposal from another vendor for a network connection from Richland to Seattle.
  • Trying to get some answers from the Caltech mail room regarding a package that was mis-directed to them and then sent to me and now the vendor is refusing to pay shipping.
  • Preparing for a planned power outage next week.  Richard is installing some generators which will power all the main GC servers and network equipment.
  • Discussing with Shannon what's needed to come up with a standardized security topology.
  • Repaired some epics database problems in the Vacuum Controls Systems which showed up when the systems were re-booted.

CIT:

(Mike)

  • Dave Beckett: Swapped out his old computer. This required me adding additional hardware to his new computer; plus software, transferring over users email, and old data to new computer.
  • Irena Petrac: Computer died due to a hardware failure. I replace her PC with a newer computer. This required a complete rebuild, and loading additional software, plus setting up users preferences, and recovering data from defected PC.
  • PRISM: Worked on putting together a website showing step by step instructions on how to setup a user's local desktop with a VPN connectionto LIGO and too connect to PRISM Project Management Software.
  • Spam filters: Continued maintenance on the Spam filters, especially whileLarry was attending his conference, & continuing to help out through out the week.
  • Janeen Romie: Reload Solid Works, added some additional software to workstation/laptop, and trouble shooting additional issues with these units.
  • Updating our IP database. While I'm getting the require information off these computers, I am also updating service packs and Norton Anti Virus engine to 9.0; regarding the Windows boxes. I am almost done with W/B, but still have to attend to Millikan, Wilson House, 40 Meter, Synchrotron, Downs, Lauritsen and all labs. Yes I have a long ways to go.
  • Took an inventory and ordered supplies for all HP printers, through out the project.
  • Other misc. onsite/phone user support.

(Veronica)

  • LSC:  Updates of the webpage for papers under review.
  • LIGO:  Compressed the footage of the last software presentation for the DCC.  The stream pointer is posted at the LIGO website.  Prepared a form for online vacuum bake requests for the 40m.  Prepared a set of high-resolution images for the Smithsonian.  Updated the PAC website.  Troublehot and made updates to the roster database.

(Larry)

  • Working on a number of new orders for units to be replaced in the server room.  Purchased and delivered a number of misc. computer support items.  Sent out a notice concerning Dell notebook power supply units.  According to Kent Dell was very responsive and replaced his power supply without any problems.  Working on the purchase of the modem pool replacement.
  • Performed maintenance on a number of accounts. Locked up a few accounts.  Minor changes made on a server in the 40M.
  • Spent time repairing E2E servers. The heat in the room has taken its toll on the disk drives. One unit has been repaired and is back on-line. In the process of repairing the other two units. Both will need a complete rebuild once the hardware has been checked out.
  • Assisted Irena with a number of items in getting her going again on her pc.
  • Worked a couple of issues in the server room. Mostly cabling and new server installs.
  • Working on the fiber installation to the sub-basement. Still no word on when the work will be done.  Did a short walk through for different items with the PMA group. They are checking on the fire suppression test as well as the additional air-conditioning that it needed.
  • Did some leg work for Albert on the network change over for Hanford.  No major discoveries were made.
  • Assisted Mike in auditing the computer systems. Still some work to go on that project.
  • Continual work on the mail filters.

Mail Statistics April 14-20, 05

Allowed Messages                    19,911

Virus Messages                           4,421

False Positives                                222

Denied Messages                      16,611

Total Messages                         36,522

Advanced LIGO and Supporting R&D (Shoemaker)

Systems and Management

No report this week.

Seismic Isolation

From: Ken Mason kmason@ligo.mit.edu

No report this week.

Suspension

From: Janeen Romie romie_j@ligo.caltech.edu

Completed the detail drawings for the tablecloth assembly. Now working on the tablecloth assembly.

From: ctorrie ctorrie@ligo.caltech.edu

UPPER STRUCTURE

The machining of all of the parts for both structures has been completed and the welding of the first upper structure has started. There are a couple of interface issues that have still to be resolved. The engineers at RAL and Glasgow are supporting us on this effort.

LOWER STRUCTURE

The main body of the lower structure is going to be done in an outside shop. 4 companies have been chosen to supply quotes for this work.
The other parts for the lower structure will be completed in the next few weeks.

ASSEMBLY / MOCK INSTALLATION TOOLING

Several parts have been purchased and are in the Physics shop to aid us with the mock installation of the Quad in the proposed clean room at Caltech.

From: Ken mailand kmailand@ligo.caltech.edu

I have worked with Helena to produce an air bake oven specification for the LASTI parts. The Grieve Co. quote is ~$18,700. for 36x36x60 size, ~two other quotes pending. this should work for all part sizes except the round rail Oddvar is designing.

We have received 4’” S.Stl. stock for the lower suspension installation arm fabrication, and one set of the roller bearing with lip seal for the pivot shaft.  I have started the detailing of the component arm parts, and making a list of the purchased parts, bearings etc.

Core Optics

From: Helena Armandula ahelena@ligo.caltech.edu

Generated specs for a Class 100 modular clean room to be used during the LASTI Quad assembly.  Received 3 bids for the construction; the PO is ready to be placed; the time for delivery and installation is about 4 weeks.

Working with K. Mailand to adquire an air bake oven. Waiting for the last bid (due by the end of the week) to place the PO.

Pre-Stabilized Laser

From: Peter King pking@ligo.caltech.edu

Parts from the faulty circuit board were salvaged and placed onto a correct circuit board.  Initial testing did not reveal anything untoward.  Exposure testing will start later this week.

Auxiliary Optics

From: Michael Smith smith@ligo.caltech.edu

BS DIFFRACTION LOSS

I completed the analysis of the BS geometric and diffractive losses for the input beam from the power recycling mirror and from the signal recycling mirror. I computed the loss for the range of BS parameters with thickness varying between 50 to 72 mm, and diameter varying between 350 to 400 mm. The results are summarized in LIGO-T050066-00. The loss results are smaller than the preliminary results I reported on 4/13/05 because I had used a Gaussian beam with a waist of 60 mm at the midpoint of the arms. The calculations were redone with the correct beam waist of 11.49 mm at the midpoint of the arms, which produces a 60 mm beam size at the ITM mirror.

The diffractive power loss fraction for the baseline BS geometry (t = 60 mm, D = 350 mm) is 9.90 E-5.

The diffractive power loss fraction is 2.2 times smaller for a slightly larger diameter BS geometry (t = 60 mm, D = 370 mm) is 4.42 E-5.

Other Laboratory R&D

From: Riccardo DeSalvo desalvo@ligo.caltech.edu

Juri

I’m working on my simulation program in order to improve the locking procedure: now it is able to lock the cavity in its fundamental mode but not with maximum power. I understood what seems to be the problem but not well understood the best solution.  Moreover I received the maps of the new Mexican Hat mirrors made by LMA and I’m running my program to obtain the predictions of the beam shape for our cavity once we will install these new mirrors.  Collaborating with Marco on the experimental setup for our interferometer.

Marco (19Apr)

After the analysis of the input beam I aligned the cavity (still the classical one). It was more difficult than before the lab closure but it has been completed even better than before. I also checked up all the servo electronics.  Meanwhile I’m studying the best configuration for the input optics to get a 4mm waist on the input mirror. Next step will be to re-lock the cavity.

Creep experiment: we are taking data at the temperature of 40oC.

Riccardo

Working with Calum on IP design.

For additional information about this report, contact Stan Whitcomb or Phil Lindquist