Weekly Report for Week Ending March 9, 2006

The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday, March 13, 2006 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
    • 40 Meter (Weinstein)
    • TNI ( Libbrecht)
    • LASTI  (Shoemaker)
  • Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)

5.      R&D and Advanced LIGO (Shoemaker)

6.      CHANGE CONTROL BOARD/TECHNICAL REVIEW BOARD SESSION AS NEEDED

  • A change request CR-060003 has been posted for consideration during the Executive Committee meeting scheduled Monday, March 13, 2006.  CR-060003 is for the award and implementation of a contract to design the exterior pendulum wave exhibit for the LIGO Livingston Science Education Center (SEC).

Special Items:

  • Preparations for Advanced LIGO Review (May 31 – June 2)

Special Announcements:

 

Weekly Report Highlights

LSC Issues (Saulson)

Plans are just about complete for the LSC meeting at Hanford 19-22 March.

The LSC Council will discuss, among other things, the proposed LSC Bylaws, and the present draft of the new MOU with Virgo.  Copies of both were placed in the DCC, and pointers were distributed to the LSC membership for study in advance of the meeting..

LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

STATUS OF LSC MOUs (Lloyd)

  • No report.

SITE TELECONFERENCE (Lindquist)

  • A site teleconference was held Thursday, March 9, 2006.  Most of the items discussed are addressed individually below.
  • The list of assigned actions updated through December 01, 2005 will be found Here.  There are no open actions.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Luna)

>From: Rod Luna <rluna@ligo.caltech.edu>

  • Performed a successful equipment inventory at Hanford this week—99 percent.
  • Disposed of excess property at LHO (14 monitors, 3 printers, 1 computer, 1 TV and 25 keyboards..

DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner, Mak)

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

Synergy Software Design

  • Continued to construct document profiles and identifying those fields required.
  • Continued to define all necessary pull-down menu tables for the myriad of metadata fields.
  • Held numerous discussions with key staff members for input on data needing to be captured.
  • Met twice with Ian Booth (FileHold) to stay on course and continue learning about using Synergy.
  • Continued working with current and archived document records to prepare for the actual conversion over to Synergy.
  • Have analyzed in our current system Media code and Group code to determine the feasibility of retaining same structure in new system.
  • Began preparing a short presentation on progress of the document system for the upcoming LSC meeting.

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

  • Completed processing and filing of 2005 Travel Expense Report files.  There were a total of 216 files.
  • Scanning--Progress continues on scanning of contract closeout files.
  • Activity:

Week Ending

03/09/2006

In

Out

Packages

27

6

Faxes

18

21

 

FINANCIAL SYSTEMS (Cronin, Brambila, Kaufman)

>From: "Cronin, Holly" <Holly.Cronin@caltech.edu>

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

  • Completed the no-cost extensions on three subcontracts (Arland Tool, Limerick, and Nor-Cal Products), and submitted the changes to the vendors.
  • Completed the procurement package for the change order to University of Florida to add operations and R & D funds for 2006. Submitted the package for routing.
  • Completed distributing the change order to Triad, which was returned from routing.
  • Working on the change request to Galli and Morelli.
  • Sent out requests to obtain current A-133 certifications for this year.
  • Responded to the audit follow up request on the A-133's, and obtained the current A133 for the Exploratorium which did not have any findings.

>From: Florence Kaufman <fkaufman>

  • Prepared a PTA Set-Up form and an request for budget realignment in Oracle to accompany the Equipment Fabrication Request for the Seismic Attenuation System (SAS).
  • Prepared a PTA Set-Up from and an authorization for budget realignment in Oracle for a new non fabrication account for the DAQ system.
  • Prepared two Cost Transfers for minor charges that had been posted to incorrect accounts.
  • Financial reports can be found at: http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport. (For passwords contact Florence)

SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Jasnow, Salone)

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

  • Nothing significant to report.

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

  • The review package for the HAM SAS contract with Galli & Morelli is being prepared for submittal to the NSF.  The package will consist of a cover letter detailing the history of the procurement, the contract, and the Galli & Morelli proposals.  Upon completion of the package, it will be reviewed by General Counsel (David Flores) before being sent to the NSF.  The contract value is $332,852, and is expected to be sent to the NSF late next week.
  • Construction of the LLO SEC is on schedule, with the back of the building sided.  High winds have prevented the installation of the larger siding panels.
  • Selection has been made for a contractor to design the kinetic facade for the LLO SEC.  The change request to cover this effort will be voted on at this Monday's Executive Committee meeting.  It is expected that the contract to perform this design, valued at $47,000, will be issued late next week.
  • Construction of the LDAS structure inside the Staging Building at LLO is on schedule, and the equipment will be moved in on March 20.

SUPPORT (Baldon, Hiroto, Lloyd)

>Irene Baldon

  • Worked on the usual new trips, expense reports, reconciling, calendar reservations, and itinerary entries.

>Julie Hiroto jhiroto@ligo.caltech.edu

  • No report.

>Dorothy Lloyd

  • No report.
  • Jim continued with data entry in the LIGO database and helping out in the DCC.

PROPOSALS and REPORTS (Lindquist)

We have prepared a FastLane request for a Supplement to the LIGO Visitors Program (NSF Award PHY-0245117).  We are requesting an additional $30K for stipends and travel expenses for four Participant students to spend the summer working in Italy on the VIRGO Program.  This has been submitted.

For the status of efforts to prepare for the Advanced LIGO Review see Advanced LIGO below.

CHANGE CONTROL/CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT (Lindquist)

  • A change request CR-060003 has been posted for consideration during the Executive Committee meeting scheduled Monday, March 13, 2006.  CR-060003 is for the award and implementation of a contract to design the exterior pendulum wave exhibit for the LIGO Livingston Science Education Center (SEC).  Budget will be moved from WBS 3.1 to WBS 3.10 to cover most of the cost.

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 this time.

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

Summary of Commissioning Activities at LIGO Hanford Observatory (compiled by M. Landry)

H1 banged in a pretty decent week, with a duty cycle of 77% and typical ranges of 13.5Mpc, despite a period of high winds Wednesday evening (which eliminated LHO locking).  The H2 duty cycle was 71%, initially near 7Mpc, but more recently with highly unstable ranges.  Dust on ISCT10 was hoovered but the instability remained; the machine has only recently stabilized (Fri a.m.) with the suggestion (but no proof) of alignment as responsible.

Current lore on the post-commissiong epoch is that our H1 mean-time-to-lock is greater than previous, but once we lock, we stay locked longer, and through daytimes at higher ranges.  We will see if the numbers support this impression, but commissioning efforts of WFS bandwidth increases and ASPD lockloss-saves appear to have worked admirably.

Some highlights from the week of science running (please see the full elog for details and more entries):

  • investigations with the HVAC system and temperature control continue.  Turbulent air flow in the volume between fans and ducting may require design of air foils, currently under assessment
  • scimons compared LHO interferometer performance before and after the commissioning break
  • linefinding elogs identify ringers in both IFOs that have either been mitigated, or are good candidates for mitigation... many of these lines, while clearly instrumental, have not been eliminated from pulsar analyses as the transfer function into the error signal is poorly understood
  • forensics on H1's downtime: the common mode unity gain frequency was restored to 20kHz, and the crossover frequency to 200Hz, in order for H1 to relock consistently and with science-mode performance
  • SoHolds (small optics hold servos) that fix the optic relative to its cage were initiated, with the expectation they will be installed next week
  • a study of traffic on the 240 highway has some suprising results, in that it is difficult to correlate the arrival of a truck at EY (minimum impact parameter) with 3-10Hz blrms noise in seismometers.  It may be that problem coupling is not at closest approach, but at some other point (bumps or local strata)
  • a study of the effect of useism on binary inspiral range was posted
  • the standard range and duty cycle Mathematica notebook was updated
  • DMT fixes were made to several key monitors for S5
  • a filter and filter archiving loophole was diagnosed, with implications for all IFOs, calibration and configuation control
  • a 4k ETMX-specific noise budget was posted

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

L1 Interferometer in S5 (Franzen)

We had a busy week with several hardware problems resulting in only 32 percent duty cycle and a decrease in inspiral range:

  • The ETMY bias module failed and was replaced.
  • The ITMY SUS started to exhibit a large yaw offset after it tripped during Thursday's construction. This has happened before and is probably due to charge up. The problem was solved by adding an offset to HEPI.
  • The temperature changed at the Y-end station due to a chiller problem. This changed the ITMY's butterfly mode which went outside its stop band in drive and thus started to ring up. The situation was improved by extending the stop band region.
  • An increase was observed in MICH and PRC coupling to DARM at 105 Hz. The MICH_DAMP and PRC_DAMP gains were tuned in order to fix the problem.

During Tuesday's maintenance the following was done:

  • The lower PSL periscope PZT mirror was exchanged since it has been broken for some time.
  • There was a state vector code drop.
  • The DMT code was upgraded.
  • The LDAS was upgraded.

Unfortunately, we are experiencing periods with numerous glitches and sometimes large drops in inspiral range:

  • Excess and intermittent 1/f DARM noise in the 30-100 Hz region. This problem spontaneously disappears and the cause is not yet understood. It was observed briefly during Monday day shift and for an extended time during Wednesday morning.
  • The 60 Hz harmonics became at least a magnitude order stronger after Tuesday's activities.

AdL Suspensions and Isolation (Romie)

Working on reports for Carol in preparation for the NSF Review.

General Computing (Giardina)

  • Received new PC for Janeen.  Unattended would not work on it, due to being SATA.  Even adding drivers from floppy fails.  Will build from scratch.
  • More site gate issues, discovered small bug in kantec software, contacting tech support about it.
  • Other usual user requests and support.

LDAS Support (Giardina)

  • Ejected tapes for shipment to CIT and imported tapes into L700.
  • LDAS upgrade (no need for details here).
  • Fixed some email issues that were broken due to upgrade and my errors.
  • Working on repairing centralized syslog setup, broken after upgrade.

Computing and Network Security (Roddy)

Much of the last few days was spent analyzing a disk image from a hacked box at Caltech.  RuthAnne from CIT and I have been comparing notes and there are a few curious items about the incident which may be related to another recent incident on campus.  It appears the hacker came in through a weak root password.  A more detailed report will be circulated after all of the details are learned.  This latest incident reinforces the need for well managed passwords, *especially* root/administrator passwords.

  • Implemented some more aggressive logging and ssh monitoring at the firewall.
  • Installed some Netflow software.  Still a few quirks to work out. 
  • Not 100 percent pleased with both of the implementations I tried.
  • More backups, etc.
  • Updated the IDS rules.
  • Since Jan 1 of this year, there have been 269,111 ssh brute force and/or dictionary attack attempts at LLO alone.  This reinforces the importance of strong password management.  It only takes one correct guess to cause headaches, both to the admins and the affected users.

Data analysis (Yakushin)

Storage/Condor/LDAS admin:

The cluster was down for 2 days for upgrade. The following work was done:

  • Solaris 10 update 1 was installed on dataserver and gateway;
  • SAM_QFS patch was applied;
  • New file system was built on 3510 to store metadevice for the user home file system that will be built on the two new 3511s;
  • Firmware was upgraded on 3510;
  • Condor was upgraded to version 6.7.16;
  • Syskonnect GigE card in gateway was replaced by Sun GigE to prevent potential problems that were observed at CIT after they upgraded to Solaris 10 update 1;
  • samfsck was run on /frames and /dmt;
  • node2 was made part of the cluster;
  • several nodes had bad disks replaced and data restored; a memory was replaced in node30.
  • /lal was unmounted from all the computers but beowulf;
  • /frames and /archive/cluster were mounted on the nodes from dataserver-cluster (previosly they were mounted from dataserver);

The upgrade is a joint work of Dan, Stuart, Dwayne, Lisa and Igor.

After LDAS upgrade we found that for a while fb1 generated corrupted L0 and trend frames.  However, we have no reasons to believe at this point that it was a result of an LDAS upgrade.

Data analysis:

  • Continue testing coherent version of waveburst on S4 data;
  • Participating in the APS presentations review telecons;
  • Working on APS slides for my S5 burst talk.

E2E (Yoshida)

Obtained some results on ground and HAM table-top yaw analysis with e2e. To make the analyses realistic, the following procedure was taken. First created calibrated platform U, V (translational displacement in X and Y) motions and Yaw motion using horizontal seismic position sensor DAQ signals (e.g., L1:SEI-MC1_POS_H1_INMON, etc).  The resultant platformþfs U, V and Yaw time series were fed into the e2e HAM stack box input ports to compute small optics (SOS) OSEM Yaw signal. This OSEM signal was compared with the corresponding DAQ signal recorded at the same time as the seismic position sensor DAQ signals.

The analyses were made based on two different HAM table Yaw models. In the first model (called the model A), only the platformþfs Yaw motion was used as input to the HAM stack box, and the resultant HAM table top Yaw motion was fed into the SOS box placed on top of HAM stack box. In other words, the stackþfs Yaw-to-Yaw coupling only was considered.

In the second model (model B), the platformþfs U, V, and Yaw were all fed into the HAM stack U, V, and Yaw input ports, respectively, and the table top U, V, and Yaw motions were computed based on the stackþfs U-to-U, V-to-V and Yaw-to-Yaw couplings. Then, additional table top Yaw was computed as dV/dx-dU/dy (where U and V are the table top translational motions computed by the stack box and x and y are the coordinate on the table) and this table top Yaw was added to the table top yaw based on the Yaw-to-Yaw coupling (the same as model A) to compute the total table Yaw, which was fed into the SOS box in turn.

The additional table top Yaw in model B was computed to consider the following effect. At the bottom of different stacks of the same table (say, for example, the north stack and south stack of HAM 1) the platform experiences east-west translational displacement with a certain phase delay. (This phase delay causes the platformþfs Yaw motion mentioned above.) Then if the north stack and south stack transfers the east-west displacement at a different rate (i.e., the transferring speed of the displacement is different for the north and south stacks), the phase delay will be enhanced at the table top; in other words, the phase delay associated with the difference in the transferring speed between the south and north is added to the initial phase delay existing at the bottom of the stacks.

Results of the computation show that the model B is closer to the OSEM Yaw DAQ signals in the overall shape of the power spectrum. The DAQ OSEM Yaw spectrum has two broad peaks around 1.5 Hz and 2.8 Hz, which can be identified as the stackþfs translational-translation first and second resonances, respectively.  The computed spectrum based on model A shows only one peak around 1.5 Hz, while the computed spectrum based on model B shows two peaks around 1.5 Hz and 2.5 Hz. This indicates the above-mentioned effect of phase delay introduced by asymmetric stack response is a possible cause for the HAM table Yaw..

Initial LIGO Detector Science & Engineering (Coyne)

CDS

see also the CDS weekly meeting minutes in the commissioning archives

DMT

No report

Optical Scattering

Bill Kells

Since being up at LHO 10 days back, I have thoroughly gone over the measurements of H1 TM scatter. The results of this have been discussed several times: Using the ETM scatter as a [relative] calibration (presuming it is not much different from what it had been as far back as 2003 when measurements were last performed) I found that both ITMs have ~ 20% less scatter (at a single fixed observation point) than they did in '03. I do not think this is a significant change!

The absolute level of scatter compared to '03 is more problematic. Since then the ifo input beam power (H1:IOO-MC_PWR_IN) has increased 6.6 times and the arms optical gain (LSC-LA_PTRX/Y) has increased about 25%. Normalizing against these leaves a decrease in ETM scatter of ~1.8.  If the arm optical gain is assumed unchanged (since '03) then this apparent decrease is ~1.5.  Of course we cannot be assured that the ifo input power monitor still has the same calibration, nor that the efficiency thru the MC into the ifo is the same. This suggests though that the relative power input into the ifo is not what we think it is by a considerable factor.

A different issue: Recently A. Melissinos and his student S. Giampanis made some measurements of AS port demos signals at the arm FSR. They find evidence for a broad peak which appears to be ifo input power realted (i.e. it was not there during previous lower power runs). They claim it is evidence for a parametric instability associated with a TM acoustic mode ~600 Hz higher in frequency. Something interesting is going on here! I doubt that it is a PI, but have been looking into it and discussing with Adrian.

40-Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)

IFO Commissioning

  • Dan and Monica continue to develop the noise budget measurements and code. They tried to measure the contribution from shot noise, but find that they are limited by electronics noise. Rana will fix the PD interface boards to reduce this. They are now measuring the couplings of other loops and oplevs to DARM.

IFO Modeling

  • The magnitude and phase of the optical transfer functions taken back in October by Osamu while varying the CARM offset are in beautiful agreement with the B&C predictions, for three different offsets and arm powers. The problem with understanding the phase turned out to be a bug in Alan's interpolation of the data. Rob gets good agreement with Optickle. New draft of the 40m optical response function paper has been prepared.
  • Monica continues to debug the control loops in her e2e simulation. She's taking transfer functions, tuning demod phases, etc. She measured the MICH OLTF, and Hiro compared it with a simulation from Twiddle; they appear to agree well.

DC Detection Development

  • Ben continues work on the DCPD satellite box. He talked to Rob and got the specs for the filters and the design is mostly finalized. Some questions remain on the placement of one of the filters, either in the vacuum nipple, or in the satellite box. It should be resolved shortly.
  • Ben has procured some of the electronics that are needed for the DC readout scheme, including a PMC servo board containing the PZT driver we will use to lock the output mode cleaner. The QPDs that were hard to get may be replaced with an OpLev chain, instead. Ben will talk with Todd again.
  • The beamsplitter for the DCPD detector was coated incorrectly. Steve has received a correctly-coated replacement.

Electronics, Controls, Computers

  • Osamu noted that the DARM signal from the AP 166 demod board has a lot of electronic noise, presumably from the mixer. He and Rana will look at different mixers, or a better RF amplifier upstream.
  • Ben did a survey of DC signals from RFPDs connected to the LSC Interface Board at 1X2-2-12. He traced all of the connections, and found out where they go, and will enter the list into the ilog.
  • New passwords have been implemented for the controls and root accounts on all the 40m controls computers (which are behind a gateway that requires yet different passwords).

Lab Infrastructure

  • The carpentry work in the 40m entrance alcove is done. Bob set up a drill press there, and will post safety signs.
  • Steve replaced a Turbopump TP2 foreline pressure rose to 200mT after 10,000hrs of running. Steve replaced the forepump with a rebuilt unit. He made a mistake that caused the main vacuum pressure to jump to 1 mTorr, but he quickly recovered from it. He also rerouted a vacuum exhaust line.
  • Steve is assembling the safety beam tubes for the MC reflected beamline and the PSL high-power beamline, in the PSL enclosure.
  • Dan took shifts at LLO and went to Mardi Gras.

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Black)

No report.

LASTI (Ottaway)

From: Thomas Corbitt tcorbitt@MIT.EDU

We measured an optical spring with the one gram suspended mirror to a frequency as high as 530 Hz. We measured transfer functions of the total loop gain and confirmed that it agrees with our model. This was significant since this is the first time we've seen an optical spring of similar (or greater) strength to our control loop. We also measured the noise reduction effects of the optical spring (showed that the length noise in the cavity is reduced due to the optical rigidity).

From: Richard Mittleman richard@ligo.mit.edu

Quadruple Pendulum

Brett and Brian (O'Reilly) have been working on the quadruple pendulum.  This week they changed out two non-functioning OSEMs and in the process discovered one of the causes for the OSEM failures. There are some small wires in the OSEM bodies which appear to have become fatigued and broken.  Brett has taken some preliminary system ID data on the local control OSEMs. There are some resonances around 45-50Hz which will need to be investigated, the speculation is that these are in the table cloth (OSEM support frame).

Triple Pendulum Cavity

Laurent has been struggling with OSEM problems also. This is a different failure mode which is associated with a single channel and is intermittent with 3 failures over a month. We have not yet identified the cause of the problem. Jay is sending us some new electronics with better protection for the diodes; we are also going to change out the cabling.

Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)

Simulation and Modeling (Yamamoto)

Analysis of mirror YAW motion (Sany Yoshida)

Sany Yoshida gave a talk at this week's e2e meeting. His view graphs and the summary of the result is available at http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~e2e/ME2ET/060309/minute.html

This study uses the LIGO I data to find out the major source of the mirror yaw motion, 1) ground rotation or 2) stack imperfection.  His analysis seems to indicate the the major yaw mode of the table top comes from the stack imperfection.  This knowledge is valuable to study the angular instability of the advanced LIGO IFO.

40m modeling (Monica Varvella, Hiro Yamamoto, Osamu Miyakawa)

Using e2e setup, Monica calculated the MICH open loop transfer function. The shape showed two peaks corresponding to the optical spring at 40Hz and the RSE optical resonance at 4kHz.  Hiro used twiddle to compare the MICH mode and DARM mode signal generation process, and showed that the distribution of the DARM to dark port xfer function and that of the MICH to dark port Xfer function are of the same shape and the ratio of the magnitude can be explained by the arm finess and the ITM transmittance.  Osamu said that, experimentally, MICH loop design was done and MICH control functions well without taking the optical spring effect into account. One possibility pointed out was that DARM loop could suppress the optical spring effect. Monica will calculate a new open loop transfer function of the MICH degree of freedom with the DARM loop closed, and this will indicate how much the MICH loop is affected by the DARM.  Monica has simulated the SRC open loop transfer function. She is still debugging the control system for CARM and PRC.

Static Interferometer Simulation code development (Hiro Yamamoto, Melody Araya)

Hiro discusses with Yi, Osamu and others to digest how various effects, including the mode coupling and optical spring effect, should be included or can be effectively excluded in the simulation, while still offering useful results. Other than that, just coding,coding,coding....

Scattering noise calculation (Hiro Yamamoto)

Twiddle and e2e are used to calculate the signal propagation from various anomalous injection points, like AR side of ITM.  This is to assist Mike Smith to calculate the requirement of scattering noise source back into IFO.

modeler code development ( Bruce Sears )

Bruce has started improving a code of model to load the definition file. The original code was written long time ago, and a good speed improvements of loading is expected by improving the code with the knowledge of the latest box file structure.

FC4 library issue (Hiro, Stuart)

The cause of the slowness of the simulation code on saiph, a new dual core quad CPU machine was traced to library loading/linking.  Unlike our server homam, on saiph, instructions to do +, -, * and / are done by library routine calls, not by direct machine instructions. FC4 is installed on saiph, while SUSE is installed on homam.

Data Analysis Activities (Lazzarini)

Brown:

  • Working on getting S5 BNS result.
  • Attended PCGM at UCSB.
  • Working on S4 ringdown search with Lisa.
  • Restarted online BNS search at LLO after maintenance
  • Provided support to Stuart on various condor/database issues.

Dupuis:

  • worked on monthly TDS analysis using February data
  • worked on constructing spectrograms of H1 and H2 using recent data

Chatterji:

  • Gave talk describing burst search methods at Pacific Coast Gravity Meeting.
  • Upgraded online Q Pipeline analysis to latest version of the online analysis system (Onasys).
  • Post-processing triggers from the S5 online Q Pipeline analysis in preparation for the LSC and APS meetings.
  • Editing paper describing coherent network consistency test

Mandic:

I have been working on the S4 all-sky stochastic paper, which is now nearing its final form. The paper is now significantly longer, discussing the individual H1L1 and H2L1 analyses in more detail, and includes a more detailed description of the signal injections. I have also completed several checks suggested by the review committee, regarding hardware injections, calibrations, compiled Matlab, IFFT of the CC integrand etc.

Sutton:

I've devoted most of the past week to the coherent analysis project here at CIT.  (This is the effort to develop a coherent network analysis algorithm which determines if a coincident event is a GWB or a noise glitch.)  I implemented a method for combining sky maps from multiple overlapping data segments into a single sky map based on the total energy in each sky pixel.  This makes the algorithm robust against the case where a signal overlaps a segment boundary.  The combined map can be used for thresholding and structure studies.  

I've also done a lot of editing to the analysis and results section of the paper.  Finally, I've studied the behaviour of the poorest- performing simulations to try to understand the conditions under which the coherent consistency test breaks down.  That's still a work in progess.

Weinstein:

  • All inspiral review, all the time.
  • Helping Lisa with her ringdown talk for PCGM and writeup for GWDAW.

Yakushin:

  • Continue testing coherent version of waveburst on S4 data;
  • Participating in the APS presentations review telecons;
  • Working on APS slides for my S5 burst talk.

LIGO Data Analysis System

Software Systems (Blackburn)

LDAS

  • Version 4.1.0 of GCC was tested on a tandem system. The running of the unit tests showed that the compiler has issues that prevent it from being used for LDAS.
  • Started testing with fftw 3.1. The unit tests have passed and it is onto full system testing on ldas-dev.
  • Utilized the ability to retrieve the subjectName from globus sockets in managerAPI log entries.
  • Testing was done using ldas version 1.8.100. Several of the system tests were modified to use tclglobus. The updated tests include procReadWrite, wrapperState, and db matrix.

TCLGlobus

  • Currently trying to debug a TCL file event issue where data exists on a globus socket, but TCL never alerts the application of its existence.
  • Added a new fconfigure option for Tcl channel implementation to extract X.509 peer subject name.

OSG GRID COMPUTING

  • The OSG Executive Team contacted LIGO to express thanks for the report generated last week that summarized LIGO's experiences to date while running on the OSG production grid. The report will be used as a template to gather reports from other VOs with the goal of assisting the facitilies management team is reviewing production issues.
  • Successfully ran Inspiral pipe work flows to completion on three OSG 0.4.0 sites for the first time: Purdue-ITaP, UFlorida-IHEPA, and UFlorida-PG.
  • Worked with TACC team to understand incomplete Inspiral pipe work flows under the LSF job manager.
  • All nodes have been yum updated.
  • Attended an ITB telecom related to issues for ITB 0.3.6
  • Attended a VDS telecom with the VDS team on eliminating fork jobs in work flows, dynamic removal of data after analysis and mutiple site work flows.
  • Held teleconference with the ISI VDS development team to discuss functionality that would be very beneficial to the running of workflows for LIGO's binary inspiral jobs on the OSG sites where data movement and storage of of a greater importance than on the LDG.
  • At the request of Ruth Pordes, reviewed the "Science Automation Institute" proposal to be submitted to the DOE for the purpose of providing feedback to the OSG Executive Board in responce to a request from SAI for a letter of support.

Hardware Systems (Anderson)

Caltech

(Dan Kozak)

  • Weekly receiving/ingesting of tapes from the sites.
  • 3510-10 has been running for a week now without odd failures.  It's important to make sure the SES firmware is all at the same REV or you get spurious amber lights, but the root problem was probably a bad controller & a bad power supply.
  • Wrote a benchmark script for Sean Cochrane (Sun) to use in testing SAM-QFS metadata performance.
  • Dealt with CIT 3510-3 hanging (again) and replaced controller.
  • Installed fibre channel switch software at CIT/LHO/LLO.
  • Helped plan and execute LLO upgrade.  Among a lot of tasks, shrank  /export to make 2 drives available for a /home filesystem's metadata and configured SAM-QFS after gateway and dataserver were upgraded to  Solaris 10 Upgrade 1.

(Phil Ehrens)

  • Installed working version of custom log analysis and reporting tool on ldas-kickstart. Ongoing debugging and adding of new features.
  • Numerous grid certificate related tasks. Many new users and a large number of expiring host certs this week!
  • Installed Solaris 10 update 1 on ldas-suntest4.

(Stuart Anderson)

  • Helped support LLO Solaris/SAM-QFS upgrade.
  • Worked on Condor scaling problems as we reached 10-20K thousand jobs.
  • Worked on 3510 controller problem at CIT.
  • Obtained estimated ship schedule for the additional 77 Opteron nodes at Caltech (in ~2 weeks).
  • Working to help identify corrupt frame problem on fb1 at LLO.  Currently this looks like it may be a due to a memory leak in the framebuilder processes which eventually ran out of memory.

(Erik Espinoza)

  • Took a look at the Foundry config @ Hanford cluster, possible update may be necessary for kickstart.
  • Installed updated IOS into CIT Cisco 6509, awaiting reboot.
  • Moved nodes 100, 125 & 167 to 327, 328 & 329 respectively.
  • Moved CPU's in old node125 (currently 328) to old 167 (currently 329), determined cpu's were bad.
  • Returned node327 & 328 back into service.
  • Put node297 & node400 into ctcs testing, node400 is crashing.
  • Down nodes: node297 (ctcs testing), node329 (awaiting cpus), and node400 (passed memtest, crashes in ctcs).

MIT

(Keith Bayer)

  • Installed new foundry switch with copper GEthernet Caltech will send LC fiber patch cords
  • Brought 2 pcraids on-line and will configure the other 2 today/ tomorrow.
  • LDAS at MIT is down until until we bring up the machines.
  • Condor is still up running old version with ~30 of the original cluster until I can bring the new nodes on-line.

Livingston

(Igor Yakushin)

  • The cluster was down for 2 days for upgrade. The following work was done:
  • Solaris 10 update 1 was installed on dataserver and gateway;
  • SAM_QFS patch was applied;
  • New file system was built on 3510 to store metadevice for the user home file system that will be built on the two new 3511s;
  • Firmware was upgraded on 3510;
  • Condor was upgraded to version 6.7.16;
  • Syskonnect GigE card in gateway was replaced by Sun GigE to prevent potential problems that were observed at CIT after they upgraded to Solaris 10 update 1;
  • samfsck was run on /frames and /dmt;
  • node2 was made part of the cluster;
  • several nodes had bad disks replaced and data restored; a memory was replaced in node30.
  • /lal was unmounted from all the computers but beowulf;
  • /frames and /archive/cluster were mounted on the nodes from dataserver-cluster (previously they were mounted from dataserver);
  • The upgrade is a joint work of Dan, Stuart, Dwayne, Lisa and Igor.
  • After LDAS upgrade we found that for a while fb1 generated corrupted L0 and trend frames. However, we have no reasons to believe at this point that it was a result of an LDAS upgrade.

(Dwayne Giardina)

  • Ejected tapes for shipment to CIT and imported tapes into L700.
  • LDAS upgrade (no need for details here).
  • Fixed some email issues that were broken due to upgrade and my errors.
  • Working on repairing centralized syslog setup, broken after upgrade.

Hanford

(Greg Mendell)

  • RDS generation is running again at LLO, after Tuesday's filesystem update. We are currently working to make sure no gaps were left in the raw or RDS since the update. The leak in the refrigeration pipe to the 22 ton air conditioner in the LDAS room at Hanford has been fixed.

General Computing (Wallace)

MIT

(Keith)

  • Received x86 workstation and am running memtest on it
  • Installed new firewall / router for CDS network
  • Still investigating IMAP for our gc mailserver
  • Working on automounting (Sun, Linux) to multiple home directories

Livingston

(Dwayne)

  • Received new PC for Janeen.  Unattended install would not work, due to the unit being SATA.  Even adding drivers from floppy fails.  Will build from scratch.
  • More site gate issues, discovered small bug in kantec software, contacting tech support about it.
  • Other usual user requests and support

(Shannon)

  • Much of the last few days was spent analyzing a disk image from a hacked box at Caltech.  RuthAnne from CIT and I have been comparing notes and there are a few curious items about the incident which may be related to another recent incident on campus.  It appears the hacker came in through a weak root password.  A more detailed report will be circulated after all of the details are learned.  This latest incident reinforces the need for well managed passwords, *especially* root/administrator passwords.
  • Implemented some more aggressive logging and ssh monitoring at the firewall.
  • Installed some Netflow software.  Still a few quirks to work out.  Not 100% pleased with both of the implementations I tried.
  • More backups, etc.
  • Updated the IDS rules
  • Since Jan 1 of this year, there have been 269,111 ssh brute force and/or dictionary attack attempts at LLO alone.  This reinforces the importance of strong password management.  It only takes one correct guess to cause headaches, both to the admins and the affected users.

Hanford

(Christine)

  • Most of this week has been spent trying to build MRTG and the RRD advanced graphic tool.  As with most freeware, they require certain libraries, the latest perl and several other utility packages.  None of these work with the Sun freeware binaries, they are all required to be built from scratch.  None of this software will compile on the first try, it all requires environment variables be set or something it needs is not in the path, etc.  It is a real pain.
  • Set up the video/audio server for the Auditorium camera to be used for the LSC.
  • Had CIT ITS add two new name/IP pairs to the DNS tables for CDS's new ilog server and the web interface to the FMCS system.  These servers are still being tested.
  • Made several purchases for users.  Looking into replacing the modem pool modems and router.  Also getting quotes for upgrading the disk storage and backup equipment for the user home directories.
  • Helped a user edit their Inbox on the mail server because a message was corrupting the file and preventing Netscape from reading the file.
  • Organized a bunch of surplus computers, printers and monitors into a keep pile and a throw away pile.  When Rod Luna was here this week he disposed of the throw away pile.

CIT

(Bruce Sears)

  • iLog Software and Policy Development:
  • More communications regarding requirements for new version of iLog.
  • Set up of a test iLog server for discussion about upgrading iLog at the observatories.
  • iLog development documentation.

(Mike)

  • Freeing up some disk space on our Ghost Server, by adding an additional hard disk using an IDE to USB convertor. These types of convertor's are great tools to have.
  • Continued work on Spam Filters, searching for false positives, and other administrative work on the Canit software.
  • Additional Backups: Ghosted NTSRV's Graffias & PC6. I'm working on testing some additional backup software for the llpdmworks server.
  • Worked with Larry installing shelves to install the 2 network switches that are currently setting on the floor in the 3rd floor network closet W/B. Sometime next week we will be moving the switches off the floor and installing these in the shelves plus re-cabling all network connections.
  • Troubleshot a network issue with Larry for Wilson House. Their network switch went down. This has been swapped out with a backup switch.
  • Working with Larry searching for various workstations that were compromised. All workstations were located, and are off the network. Users will have to rebuild these systems.
  • Cleanup work in the B/A server room, making room for additional equipment.
  • Other misc. user/phone support.

(Christian)

  • Finished updating the laptops that are traveling to Hanford Observatory with the latest security patches and virus definitions.
  • Upgraded Dot's workstation from Windows 2000 to Windows XP.
  • Replaced toner cartridges on HP 5500 printer.
  • Installed Thunderbird for Mike Smith on a visitors' workstation.
  • Configured Bob's new laptop with the Ligo standard image.
  • Continuing investigation to find a replacement s/w pkg. for the WebCAM XP tool. This tool is OK and good for the price but a couple more utilities would be nice.  Other misc.: Continued onsite software/phone support.

(Veronica)

  • LSC:  Ongoing support of the March meeting website and backend applications.  Updates of the database of technical papers.
  • LIGO:  Copies of the Virgo Project DVD.  Compressed the talk by Vuk Mandic for streaming, and burned a DVD for the TAPIR group.  Working on the Elba website.
  • CaJAGWR:  Website updates.  Set up the camera for taping the Tuesday talk, assisted JoAnn with the howto, compressed the footage for streaming.

I was out of office for part of this week.

(Larry)

  • Still working in the world of purchasing.  Ordered more equipment for different people. Delivered a number of items that have been received.  Finally, CISCO has agreed that the maint. contract renewal at the present time should be done through them. They too were unable to find a local third party for us to go through. I should be able to put in the renewal online.  Still adding to the list for the SUN matching grant program. I am trying to make sure they will deliver to the different locations.
  • Had a couple of printer issues resolved. Millikan will need a replacement soon but the unit is no longer making the high pitched noise.
  • Worked and still working on a computer security incident. The major problem with it has been the time involved and handling the distractions that go with it.
  • Reworked a couple of the backups. One more tape is going to be redone, it lists OK, but I still don't trust it.
  • Restored a number of files for different people.
  • Relocated a number of h/w items for different groups.
  • Assisted Christine and others with some of the logistical issues for the LSC meeting.
  • Ran more diagnostics on the Dual Core quad cpu unit from Monarch. It failed the memory test and is back to rebooting itself on a regular basis. When I get a chance I will open it up and check the h/w and do some memory swapping.
  • Continue working the mail filters. The whole thing is to the point that it needs to be reset. A lot more getting through than normal.

Mail Statistics March 2-8, 06

Mail Statistics

March 9, 2006

Rejected Messages

28,170

Virus Messages

1,024

Accepted Messages (Half of these probably should have been rejected)

45,965

Total Messages

74,135

 

Advanced LIGO and Supporting R&D (Shoemaker)

From: Dennis Coyne coyne@ligo.caltech.edu

Advanced LIGO Systems

See also:

AL Systems web page

AL Systems email archives

Records of Decision or Agreement (RODA)

See also the RODA status web page

  • nothing new

Requirements/Design

  • Working on conceptual design & costing of the vibration isolation of the in-vacuum ISC reflected and pick-off port table.
  • Luke Williams visited Caltech this week, working with Mike Smith on the optical layout. Had discussions with IO group (Dave Reitze, Dave Tanner, Guido Mueller, et. al.) and Peter Fritschel on layout constraints and design preferences. Trying to get workable stable and “unstable” recycling cavity layouts to determine if 5 HAM optical tables (and isolation systems) are sufficient, or whether a 6th table (and isolation system) is needed.

Interface Issues

See the "Interfaces" section of the AL Systems web page

  • Helping Carol Wilkinson to review costing, schedule and planning in preparation for the NSF AL review.

Vacuum Compatibility

Residual Gas Assay (RGA)

See also the Vacuum Bake Lab

  • I have been working with Ben on his investigation into the OSEM failure problem.
  • I have started to prepair the OSEMs that came from MIT, for rebuild. When I get all of the Ceramabond off and get them clean again I will rebuild and test them.
  • I built the diode boards for Rich to do his test. I am building more diode boards for Ben.
  • Have cleaned 12 beam dumps for Steve at the 40M and will begin baking them as soon as I receive the end peaces from Mike at the machine shop.
  • I will meet with Luke Williams today about the Faraday Isolator cleaning and baking.
  • I had a meeting with Ken Mailand and Calum this morning about cleaning and baking the tooling that Ken is designing for the Quad.
  • Calum & I also discussed the up coming trip in April to MIT in support of the SUS quad installation/testing.

Scatter/Absorption Test Measurement System

Lee Cardenas, Liyuan Zhang, Bill Kells

Finally, The laser is running as a complete system.  We have installed the new aperture cooling unit and re-aligned the whole optical path and improve the mode match.  Right now, we are scanning the big 4ITM07 mirror for absorption with a new calibration, having the Yag Laser spot at 150um and the HeNe spot at 450um in diameter.  having measurements at different mirror depths and scanning at different areas, and diameters. Mainly improving the absorption test sensitivity.

High-Irradiance, Contamination-Exposure Cavities

Lee Cardenas, Liyuan Zhang

Changes indicated in yellow highlight.

Cavity

(Location)

Material/Item

Start

End

Comments

Cavity #1

(OTF Lab, Bridge)

“Cable wire” (material type?)

~11/17

TBD

Taking measurements daily.

Cavity #2

(OTF Lab, Lauritsen)

NA

NA

NA

We continue working on setting up the system

Cavity #3

(OTF Lab, Lauritsen)

OSEM Flexi-circuit cable, qty ~ 45

(Helena Armandula, SUS)

supplied by Univ. Birmingham (Stuart Aston)

~9/30

TBD

taking daily absorption & ring down measurements. So far it has been 60 days of continuous test (1440 hours); three more days and the test will be completed.

DuPont Flexible Circuits. The whole part to be constructed of 'flexi' i.e. no 'rigid' sections. (Stuart Aston,Univ. of Birmingham, SUS/UK subsystem)
- Start Laminate: Kapton (LF8515)

(document link: http://www.dupont.com/fcm/products/H-73244.pdf

Coverlay (x2): Kapton (LF0110)

(document link: http://www.dupont.com/fcm/products/H-73245.pdf

DuPont Pyralux Series - Kapton / Acrylic Adhesive system.

(document link: http://www.dupont.com/fcm/products/H-73246.pdf

Queue

Priority 1

2 Cleaned 50ppm transmission mirrors, 1 in dia., REO coated --

TBD

TBD

witness samples for the LHO vertex volume (added in 6/29/2005 vent)

Queue

Priority 2

Stepper Motor (Riccardo DeSalvo, possible SUS or ISC use)

TBD

TBD

Stepper Motor sample had been placed into Cavity #1: Power dropped from 175 mW to ~25 mW after introducing the stepper motor sample, and continues to decrease. It is very hard to keep cavity locked. The stepper motor may have contaminated the mirrors. Will re-test when a cvity becomes available again.

To be rebaked soon using the self-heating capability of the stepper motor (not just the oven heater controls)

Advanced LIGO Management

From: Carol Wilkinson <wilkinson@ligo-wa.caltech.edu>

 

From: Phil Lindquist <lindquist_p@ligo.caltech.edu>

Advanced LIGO Review Preparations (Lindquist)

The following documents have been prepared and distributed:

Positions Summary List - The first step in preparing for the Advanced LIGO Review is to review the Positions Summary List to check whether the projected positions are consistent with expectations and needs.  We also need to know what positions will be required to support continuing Operations activities through the Advanced LIGO Construction effort and what positions will be available to help with Advanced LIGO.  Task managers were requested to review and respond by February 17.  A limited number of responses have been received.

LIGO Operations Budget Model (FY 2006 - FY 2008) - This file is a full detailed budget projected through FY 2008.  It assumes that funding will be level at $33 million in FY 2007 and FY 2008.  Operations Task Managers will be requested to review and update as needed.

Projection of Advanced LIGO Operations Costs - This model projects budgets through 2014 (steady state Advanced LIGO Operations) including a summary of increments that were provided by task managers for the June 2003 NSF Review.  These estimates have been escalated to FY 2014 dollars.  We will request a review and update by the Operations Task Managers.

Project Execution Plan – A second draft of the Advanced LIGO PEP was distributed last week for review and update.  I requested responses by March 3, 2006.  An update of the Organization and Staffing sections was also distributed last week.

Seismic Isolation

From: Ken Mason <kmason@ligo.mit.edu>

Advanced Ligo Seismic Isolation Procurement Status

  • The large Stage 1 plates have arrived from Arland Tool. The stage 0 and stage 1 plates have been moved into the high bay and placed on a pallet rack for assembly.
  • The fastening hardware was received this week and is being organized into bins by Fred Miller.
  • Worked on scheduling, cost estimates, boe, and staffing for advanced ligo seismic isolation.
  • The position sensor target was redesigned to 2 pieces instead of 1 due to unavailability of large diameter 1100 aluminum.
  • Began design of the blade calibration fixture shims to assure we are properly loading springs through the entire test range.

Suspension

From: Janeen Romie romie_j@ligo.caltech.edu

Working on reports for Carol in preparation for the NSF Review.

From: Ken Mailand kmailand@ligo.caltech.edu

Bob is starting the cleaning on the plate fixture parts. CES is adding modifications to the large plates before they are plated.  Also for Calum, we have purchased a smaller assembled lift table, for the LASTI work in early April.

From: Jay Heefner jay@ligo.caltech.edu

AdL Cost and Schedule

  • Spent many hours this week reviewing and updating the costs and schedules for SUS, SEI, DAQ and ISC.

AdL SUS Quad Controls Prototype

  • New adapter boards and interface baords for the LASTI install have been received and are being stuffed. They should be ready by next week.
  • The new timing interface board design is complete and has been sent out for fab. It should be back next week.

From: Ben Abbott <abbott_b@ligo.caltech.edu>

LED Failures

I have spoken to many people, trying to fully understand what has happened to the LEDs at LASTI.  Of the 6 LEDs that were sent back from the quad pendulum as having failed LEDs, three were fine (turned out to be a problem with a cable), and one had an unglued PD board but the LED was fine, but two of the returned boards actually had non-functioning LEDs.  Two other LEDs are suspected to have failed on the triple pendulum, and these are being sent here for diagnostics.  Once I have all of the truly failed LEDs accounted for, I will send them to Honywell for more refined diagnostics.

In the mean time, Jay, Mohana and I took a hard look at the GEO driving electronics, noticed some anomilies related to power supply interruptions, and came up with some measures that should, at least, lessen the probability that the LED damage occurred as a result of a damaging output from the electronics.  The GEO electronics were designed to drive an LED that is significantly more robust than the one we are using.  It is therefore conceivable that, although they have never damaged a GEO LED, they could still damage ours.  Mohana is retrofitting the fixes onto two LED drivers that we have here, and she will send them to LASTI when they are completed.  The plan is to swap them out for the drivers on the triple, and have those drivers sent to us for retrofitting for the quad.

In parallel with that, Bob is making me several LED boards with three batches worth of LEDs so that I can destructively test them and determine if there is any robustness difference between the original batch we got, and the batch that we got in 2005 that seems to be failing.

I am finishing up the layout of a back panel for the PCIX effort.  It should be sent off this week.

Core Optics

From: Helena Armandula ahelena@ligo.caltech.edu

Advanced LIGO Coatings

Received the first test report on the FTIR analysis of First Contact. This is a strippable coating that can be applied to a mirror to protect and final clean the mirror's surface.  The results are in the dccdocs OUT, T060051-00

Pre-Stabilized Laser

From: Peter King pking@ligo.caltech.edu

The PSL costing has been updated to FY2006, with some minor revisions to the labour estimates.  The costing has been marked up and returned to Dwight.  Also completed are the risk factors up to the schedule impact.

I discussed some schedule issues with Benno, with regard to delivery of the LASTI laser and the observatory lasers.  There has been some progress on the laser front with the output power being up to approximately 170-180 W.  However 20% of the output is in other polarisations and the suspicion is on the birefringence compensation.

The Xilinx DSP adventure continues with their web support personnel, who have apparently cast us adrift.  The hardware issue is apparently not present in the latest release of their software, which for reasons best known to them is not released with the hardware when you buy it.  Attempts to get the latest version of their software have not borne any fruit so far, as the link I was pointed to is a customer support homepage.

Auxiliary Optics

From: Michael Smith <smith@ligo.caltech.edu>

VERTEX LAYOUT

The Zemax layout of the 2K IFO is proceeding based on the following assumptions:

1. BS wedge is the same as 4K IFO

2. BS height same as 4K IFO

3. ITMY PO mirror same height as ITMX PO mirror in 4K IFO

4. PRM and MMT3 are at same elevation

The parameters of the BS transmitted beam were adjusted as follows:

The ITMY reaction mass wedge is adjusted to satisfy assumption 3.

The FMY is steered to satisfy assumption 2.

The PRM wedge is adjusted to satisfy assumption 4.

Under the above conditions, the centerline height of the 2K PRM is -133mm global, compared to -157mm global for the 4K IFO.

OPTLEV

Luke Williams from UFL is at CIT this week laying out the proposed stable recycling cavity IO beam train in SW.  He is developing a conceptual layout of optical lever beams for all the suspended optics in the IO beam train.

I am working with Riccardo to develop a design concept for suspended optical lever transmitter and receiver platforms, which should provide an order of magnitude improvement in optlev noise.

SLC

Hiro is still working on obtaining transfer functions for scattered light noise in the ADLIGO RSE configuration with the optical spring effect.

AOS COST

Phil Willems and I are in the process of updating the AOS cost figures.

Controls, Data systems

No report this week.

Other Laboratory R&D

From: Riccardo DeSalvo desalvo@ligo.caltech.edu

Virginio and Valerio

  • more simulations

Yumei Calun

  • simulating and measuring wands and dampers.  The resonant damper designed in case of necessity for the HAM spring box is being tuned to 60 Hz for possible use on the quadruples

Tarallo

  • writing paper

Stochino

  • idem.

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