Weekly Report for Week Ending May 4, 2006

The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday, May 8, 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

  • No open change requests

Special Items:

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

Special Announcements:

 

Weekly Report Highlights

LSC Issues (Saulson)

No report.

LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

STATUS OF LSC MOUs (Lloyd)

  • Emery-Riddle's August 05 MOU was converted to LSC format and has been accepted and signed by Saulson along with the Attachments D, A, T and OPT.

SITE TELECONFERENCE (Lindquist)

  • There was a site teleconference Thursday, May 4, 2006.  The following were among the items discussed:
  • Financial Reports – Reports for the end of April have been posted.  For recurring costs, we are running at 86 percent of budget and project that we will spend $32 mill8on in FY 2006.
  • Livingston Science Education Center – The building should be enclosed to the weather within weeks.
  • Van Acquisition for Hanford – We have a low bid and a check will be mailed this week for a Wednesday pickup.
  • There are currently no open action items.  The list of assigned actions updated through December 01, 2005 (the last update) will be found Here.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Luna)

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

  • Attended the Exports Controls Seminar in Washington DC.
  • Provided assistance to the Detector Group  (C. Torrie) with shipping, packing, and preparation of a Commercial Invoice for US Customs Clearance of 6 boxes to the Scotland.  Account Number  LIGO.TEC-1.3-NSFLIGO.FY02ON.
  • Assisted Hanford (J. Worden) in the purchase of a new van.

DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner, Mak)

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

  • No report.

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

  • Processed another small handful of revised & new HAM drawings from Promec.
  • Processing a large batch of confidential/sensitive documentation.
  • Scanning - Scanning of non-electronic 'P' documents is complete.  Scanning of contract closeout files has resumed.
  • Activity:

Week Ending

05/04/2006

In

Out

Packages

23

15

Faxes

22

26

 

FINANCIAL SYSTEMS (Cronin, Brambila, Kaufman)

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

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

  • Completed change order #3 to the Exploratorium and submitted it to the vendor.
  • Completed the internal modification fund transfer on the new Galli and Morelli subcontract and federal expressed the signed subcontract to the vendor.
  • Placed credit card orders as requested.  One called for the export of the goods to Italy.  Arrangements have been made for the export which is scheduled for delivery next week.
  • Working on completing the changes to the terms and conditions of the University of Florida subcontract.
  • Completed the package for the MIT change order and routed it for review and approval.

>From: Florence Kaufman <fkaufman>

  • Completed the monthly reports for the fiscal year for Operations and R&D and for Outreach as of the end of April and posted them on the network.
  • 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 LLO SEC construction remains slightly ahead of schedule.  Preparations are being made for installation of the glass front wall, which will fully enclose the building.
  • A successful preliminary design review for the prototype of the kinetic facade was conducted last week.  Only a few minor design issues remain to be resolved.
  • Notification was received that DEMCO is now in the system for electronic funds transfer for payment of monthly power invoices at Livingston.  Next month's bill will be the first under the new EFT arrangement.
  • Research is being performed by the Caltech Office of General Counsel to see if security background checks for volunteers are required by law in either Washington or Louisiana.

PROPOSALS and REPORTS (Lindquist)

See Advanced LIGO below.

It’s time to work on Monthly Report for the NSF.

CHANGE CONTROL/CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT (Lindquist)

  • No open change requests.

HUMAN RESOURCES (Akutagawa)

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

  • The next Staffing Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 15.  All files for the Staffing Committee are up-to-date and posted on the SC web page.
  • Prepared numerous appointment and reappointment memos for various Visitors and Post Docs.
  • Preparing for the arrival of the REU students.

Quality/Safety (Tyler)

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

Nothing much to report, mainly working to "close" the Livingston Action Items assigned to the Caltech organization.  An e-mail has been distributed regarding the AI for the fire extinguisher check period requirement. The Federal requirement is monthly visual check and annual maintenance service.  The AI regarding Site volunteers is in work, the "key" Campus organizations have been contacted and have agreed to provide the necessary information.

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

Summary of S5 and Commissioning Activities at LIGO Hanford Observatory (compiled by M. Landry)

S5 Highlights

  • weekend running was solid on both IFOs but h1 AWG issues remained: had to boot h1awg0 several times... through the week, h1awg0 continued to require reboots but at a lower frequency
  • Monday locking was interrupted for six hours due to high winds, with gusts in excess of 50mph
  • Tuesday we had our scheduled power outage care of the FFTF (reactor, which was undergoing electrical maintenance), from 9:10-9:35am PDT.  The IFOs were back to locking by early afternoon (much more quickly than the recent unscheduled power outage several weeks ago).
  • the range and duty cycle update was posted
  • we're considering a periodic "IFO maintenance" period (with frequency and duration t.b.d.), separate from Tuesday "site" maintenance, for interferometer jobs orthogonal to site ones
  • blrms seismic tracks the h1 inspiral range with high precision
  • some questions of the effect of fans on IFO performance still linger, such as how much if any noise fan 6 adds... the seismically isolated unit may not add noise at all despite first considerations (seismic comparo here)
  • most CDS systems came back well and quickly after the scheduled power outage; framebuilders were more finicky.

Outreach (D. Ingram)

LHO recently hosted the Yakama Nation Tribal School and the monthly meeting of the WSU-TC Latino Outreach Collaborative.  A multi-partner bilingual event occurred on 4/22.  National Astronomy Day will unfold on May 6.

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

Bulletin on Stuck ITM:

Assuming ITMy does not free itself Thursday night (see Ken's report below), the LLO vertex volume will be vented to atmosphere Friday morning 5/5 so it can be manually released.

The repair duration at ambient pressure, and the subsequent pumpdown period to degas adsorbed water, will depend on what's found inside.  We will issue a projection for rejoining S5 as soon as we have enough info.

Thanks to everyone for your patience and especially to LHO for unrelenting 24/7 expert support.

L1 in S5 (Franzen)

The duty cycle during last week was only 37 percent due to a series of unfortunate events:

  • ISCT4 fast shutter malfunction on Thursday. The shutter did not open properly and was swapped to a spare.
  • AS trigger problems.
  • TCS script problems.
  • Thunderstorm (Saturday evening).
  • AWG problems.
  • Several large earthquakes in South America and in the Tonga islands during Sunday.
  • ITMY which seemed to have received some charge during heavy construction work going on outside during the Tuesday maintenance period. We lost our ability to align the optics properly and could not use HEPI to compensate like during previous times when this has happened. During Wednesday we tried to recover by purging the chamber with dry air and shaking the corresponding HEPI.  However it did not help. We are presently preparing to vent the system in order to go in for an inspection and a fix.

L1 CDS (Bogue)

  • Spent most of this week updating CDS documentation.
  • Came up with a design to update the main web page on london.
  • We had more problems with dtt and test points this week.  This time it was on the framebuilder side.
  • Looked at using system tools to replace the off-the-shelf software we are using for screen captures.  I think sdtimage will provide the same functionality.

LLO Outreach (Thacker)

  • developed and conducted Professional Development for East Baton Rouge physics and physical science teachers
  • developed and conducted program for Franklinton High School advanced mathematics school visit.
  • exhibit maintenance

AdL Suspensions and Isolation, Outreach and Very Very Large Art (Romie)

Advanced LIGO Suspensions

Working with Brett, Pradeep and Jay this week, to work out final cabling, osem & electronics issues.

Completed updating the SUS WBS Dictionary this morning. Working with Caroline on a number of SUS estimate issues in preparation for the SUS dry run on Tuesday. Working on the cost/schedule presentation for Tuesday.

LLO Science Education Center Kinetic Art Project

Participated in the HPD Kinetic Art PDR last Thursday. On May 23rd, we will go to Boulder to see and review the prototype.

LIGO Computing and Network Security (Roddy)

  • The LLO network went down for a while yesterday.  Ticket was opened with Bell South and they arrived this morning.  The network came back up last night without intervention.  Fujitsu has had a product advisory that has been out for ~1 yr to replace the former version of the repeater cards.  So, Bell changed three of the six cards on the circuit today.  I will keep an eye out for dropouts on the fiber and if there are any more dropouts they will likely replace the cards on the other segment.  Most dropouts are not noticed since they last < 5 seconds.
  • Spent some time planning the network drops for the outreach building.  The network drops will be "field routed" and the conduits just stub off above the drop ceiling.  Ordered the CAT5 for the network and CAT3 for the phone.
  • Troubleshooting web server problems.  Haven't been able to figure out exactly why Apache is bombing a couple times a day, though I also haven't had much time to look into it.
  • Worked with Dwayne on the DNS/loghost rebuild.
  • Began working on a Dell to replace the old HP scanner PC.  Work stopped when I was short one power adapter.  It has been ordered and it is on the way.
  • fixed the wireless in the auditorium

General Computing and LDAS Support (Giardina)

  • solidworks reinstall on Janeens PC to revert to correct version for the PDMWorks vault, all appears to be well
  • apache has been requiring restarts on alix.  need to migrate to a new server weighs heavier.
  • installed FC5 on Sun X2100.  This is our new loghost and internal DNS.  named and syslog-ng have been configured on the machine and it is now in production. old loghost/DNS server was failing intermittently.
  • assisted Bonnie with new LLO website development
  • got a crash course from Shannon on what to do when there is trouble with network connection between LSU and LLO
  • other usual user requests and support
  • ejected tapes for shipment to CIT and imported and labeled new tapes
  • replaced hda in node125 with hdb from node10, new hdb in node10; replaced hda in node162 with hdb from node11, new hdb in node11; replaced hdb in node154 with new; replaced hdb in node164 with new
  • attended Condor Week 2006 with Stuart and Erik
  • working on a ganglia replacement to monitor our cluster statistics

Data Analysis (Yakushin)

Storage/Condor/LDAS Admin

1) GHLTV-SG21_V4_S4, GHLTV-SG22_V4_S4, GHLTV-GA2_V4_S4, GHLTV-WNB1_V4_S4, GHLTV-SG1_S5, GHLTV-SG1B_S5 burst MDC sets were copied from PSU to CIT via LDR.

2) RLS and LDR servers at LLO were restarted in order to revive downloading of L3, h(t), L4 LHO frames to LLO.

Data Analysis

1) Continue working on applying coherent waveburst to LIGO-GEO S4 data.

2) Preparing a techical document on the S5 version of the incoherent waveburst.

3) Regenerated waveburst online analysis page with S5 version of waveburst http://ldas-jobs.ligo-la.caltech.edu/~waveburst/S5_LIGO_ONLINE_2. Once the V2 calibration is officially released, I might have to redo it again.

4) Integrated QScan into waveburst online analysis pipeline to do a follow-up study of loud triggers.

Initial LIGO Detector Science & Engineering (Coyne)

Nothing significant to report

40-Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)

IFO Commissioning

  • With much increased RF modulation and LO oscillator levels at the LSC rack (see below), DRMI locking is much easier and more robust. Re-optimization of loop gains in progress.
  • Rob and Rana have a new easier way to lock the DRMI (no arms) using only single-demod signals at the SP (no double-demod). This allows them to tune up the demod phases, offsets, and diagonalizing the plant for the double-demod signals is much easier, and the control can be handed over to those tuned-up signals before adding the arms.
  • Osamu continues to work on the noise budget with Monica and Dan. They have made tremendous progress. The code Osamu developed at LLO for improved measurement of the frequency noise has been brought over and implemented at the 40m. Most of the main noise sources for the 40m FPMI have been measured, including frequency noise, seismic, oplevs, MICH, calibrated DARM noise, Dark noise, frequency noise, seismic, oplevs, MICH, and their sum (total predicted DARM noise). Still need intensity noise; to measure, we need an analog output from the front end (AWG) to actuate on the PSL intensity. We will maybe use a spare, unused ASC (or IO suspension) Pentek DAC channel, Also missing is oscillator phase noise.
  • The noise budget indicates that the FPMI sensitivity is limited by dark noise above ~200 Hz, which will be improved when we increase the optical gain by locking the PRFPMI or DRFPMI. At that point, the noise budget code can measure the PRC and SRC loop noise. But we need to implement into the noise budget code a reliable model of the DRFPMI frequency dependence, including optical spring and RSE peaks.
  • The signal from the MC transmitted RFAM PD went away, possibly because an upstream optic was disturbed. The MC autolock script, which uses that signal to sense when the MC is in lock, was changed (by Rob) to use another PD.

IFO Modeling

  • Monica is updating the seismic model in her e2e model of the 40m, using Osamu's model. It's 100x higher at 10 Hz. Now she's trying to lock with the much larger seismic noise.
  • Monica is developing a Bench model for AdVIRGO.

DC Detection and Vacuum Squeezing Development

  • Ben reports that the DCPD/OMMT Satellite box is being stuffed by PR and should be finished soon. Ben has started the front panels for that box.
  • Ben is finishing the QPD Whitening board layout for the DC readout beamline.
  • Ben gave Bob ten more resistors (for the in-vac DC PD) to bake and scan. They are an easily mountable wirewound type.
  • Ben machined the DCPD beamsplitter mount to allow for retaining clips to be screwed on, and Dan made and installed the retaining clips. It's not a neat solution, but it works.
  • Ben reports that Jay is working on the layout of the TT steering mirror PZT driver board and the OMC PZT driver board. Also, the PCIX-based computer, and ADC and DAC cards, are in hand. The ADC and DAC interface boards are designed and will be ordered soon.
  • Rob and Sam tried locking the OMC with the crystal laser borrowed from LLO, with no luck; it was too noisy. We need to find a spare NPRO.
  • Rob and Sam are unhappy with the mounting of the small curved mirror on the output MMT, and are thinking of alternative mounts using a new mirror.
  • Go and Evgueny installed the new OPO cavity, aligned and mode matched the seed beam, found the cavity modes, and optimized TEM00 transmission of seed beam. Next step is to align the pump (frequency-doubled) beam. They also mode matched into and out of the mode cleaner fiber they use for the local oscillator beam, and got 90% throughput. with Osamu, they are designing a single remote-insertable In-vac pickoff mirror for their squeezed vacuum.

PSL

  • Steve continues to monitor the PSL power. The internal MOPA AMPMON photodiode from Lightwave, strongly humidity dependent, was replaced by a new PD (thorlabs PDA55) external to the MOPA and calibrated to watts. We now have a reliable way to monitor the MOPA power before it goes through the PMC.
  • Steve and Rob noted that the PSL head temperature had a couple of "hiccups" in the last week; one was possibly due to optical feedback when a shutter was closed, but one or two others have no known cause, and everything fell out of lock. Being closely watched.
  • The MZ frequency noise is large, and the servo drifts into saturation easily. Steve will construct a plastic box around the MZ to protect it from acoustic noise and accidental bumps.

Electronics, Controls, Computers

  • Dan and Rana measured RF LO levels at LSC rack, and found lots of problems and inadequate LO levels.
  • Rob redid much of the RF distribution wiring, replacing the old frequency distribution boxes with Mini-Circuits ZFSC-3-13's. He then turned up the modulation at the RF distribution rack, and now there is much more LO and RF signal going into the LSC rack (although the 199 MHz is still a bit low). The Heliac for the 166MHz to the pockels cell has bad connector - to be fixed.
  • To aid in noise budget work, we need to have the seismic spectrum from the accelerometers at the vertex and at the ends, always available to the front end controls. Steve will set up the accelerometers and run the cables.
  • Our controls computers continue to be a mess, with many things not working on them. We will try to enlist help from solaris experts.
  • We need to prepare our PC computers for the onslaught of SURF students this summer.

Lab Infrastructure

  • Steve had the electricians install a 20m breaker from isolation transformer panel to the DCreadout rack.
  • Steve reports that a vacuum foreline gauge failed, to be replaced.

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Black)

No report.

LASTI (Ottaway)

No report.

Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)

Simulation and Modeling (Yamamoto)

Adv.LIGO mechanics simulation (Sany Yoshida, Mark Barton, Hiro Yamamoto)

The standard quad state space model in e2e is now based on the reference configuration updated recently, instead of the old reference configuration in 2003.  The main difference between 2003 and new one is the spacing of the suspension wires. In 2003, spacing of wires between the second mass from the top and the penultimate mass was wider than that between the penultimate mass and the test mass. In the latest reference configuration, it is opposite. I.e., the spacing of wires between the the penultimate mass and the test mass is wider.  When a FP setup is used to see the difference (no ASC control, just mechanical effect), the correlation of pitches between the penultimate mass and the test mass is much stronger than the old reference case. Mark provided us SS parameters of the new reference configuration, together with one with descent asymmetries included.

Sany continued e2e analysis of AdvLIGO quad-sus based on Mark Barton's mathematica model. His primary interest at this point is to see the level of couplings between various degrees of freedom at the suspension point to those of the optic. Completed computation for one case in which the quad-sus was assumed to be perfectly symmetric (with somewhat obsolete mechanical parameters of the suspension). Will continue similar computations for cases with more recent mechanical parameters including asymmetric (off-diagonal mass).

40m modeling (Monica Varvella)

Another attempt to keep the in-lock state is under investigation using the seismic model implemented by Osamu in e2e. The noise level around 10 Hz is almost two order of magnitude higher than that one obatined with Monica model : it will be probably necessary to increase some gains for the control system previously used to get the stability.

QuadFP (Hiro Yamamoto)

Working on to setup FP with quad suspension, radiation pressure, ASC and LSC. This is intended to be used by ISC experts to investigate a realistic design for adv.LIGO.  A preliminary mass position and pitch motions are available in www.ligo,caltech.edu/~hiro/AdvLIGOSim/FP_pitch.pdf and FP_pos.pdf.  These show how the masses and pitches change as the FP power goes up from 1W input to 1000W input. It is observed that the basic pitch mode at 0.4 Hz is excited.

Modeler Code (Bruce Sears, Hiro Yamamoto)

Bruce is working to modify the output part so that one can control the output list more easily and effectively.

Hiro modified the code to (1) make FUNC_X more close to normal C++ code and (2) added a few modules for QuadFP setup.

ALFI (Melody Araya)

Continuing with the ALFI enhancement to have "comment" notes in an  edit window.   Parsing the comment elements from a box files is mostly  done.  Currently working on the GUI portion.

Data Analysis Activities (Lazzarini)

Brown:

  • Attended LIGO/Condor meeting at UW-Madison.
  • Scimon shifts at LLO
  • Did some housekeeping on online inspiral search
  • Enhanced online inspiral glitch pages at LLO, will propagate up to LHO this week

Chatterji:

  • Identified potential clustering algorithm extensions to the Q Pipeline for further study by a summer undergraduate research fellow.
  • Investigating the prospects of a chirplet extension to the Q Pipeline.
  • Continued writing of a proposal for a mock data challenge using 3 hours of single detector GEO, LIGO, and Virgo data
  • Reviewing draft of the LIGO/Virgo burst PRD paper

Dupuis:

  • working on summarizing the results for pulsar analysis using the first 6 months of S5

Mandic:

I studied the accessibility of the stochastic GW background produced in cosmic string models to LIGO. It appears that there is a class of cosmic string models that is accessible to LIGO, but not to other measurements of the stochastic GW background. I plan to work with Xavi Siemens and possibly others toward a publication.

I worked on the S4 all-sky stochastic search paper. I made modifications to reflect the new analysis results regarding Bayesian statistics, software injections, implications of various m

Mendell:

I am continuing work on the StackSlide S4 analysis, and the paper with PowerFlux and Hough results. An update will be ready by next week's pulsar telecon, and I hope a review this week or next.

Shawhan:

  • Fixed duplicated information in conlog files at LLO.
  • Reviewed pulsar analyses.
  • Considered the importance of having two interferometers at Hanford.

Sutton:

This week I made final edits to the Xpipeline coherent analysis paper and sent it to gr-qc and PRD.  I also studied the use of time delay estimates in Xpipeline to restrict the region of the sky that needs to be studied.  Finally, I read portions of Stein's thesis (former SURF student working with Xpipeline) and sent him comments.

Yakushin:

1) Continue working on applying coherent waveburst to LIGO-GEO S4 data.

2) Preparing a techical document on the S5 version of the incoherent waveburst.

3) Regenerated waveburst online analysis page with S5 version of waveburst http://ldas-jobs.ligo-la.caltech.edu/~waveburst/S5_LIGO_ONLINE_2. Once the V2 calibration is officially released, I might have to redo it again.

4) Integrated QScan into waveburst online analysis pipeline to do a follow-up study of loud triggers.

LIGO Data Analysis System

Software Systems (Maros for Blackburn)

LDAS

After examining another program which also tries to overcome stuck NFS calls, a new plan is being formulated to overcome problem report 3015. It should be implemented by next week.

The work of cleaning up the hard coding of /ldcg/bin/tclsh has completed and is currently being tested on a tandem system. The "TEST ALL" feature of cmonClient has completed successfully. This instance is using TCL/TK as provided by Fedora Core 4 and version 8.4.12 for Solaris.

System testing used version 1.8.165 of ldas.

TCLGlobus

Based on user feedback, the installation documentation for TCLGlobus has been modified.

GRID COMPUTING

Work has focused on providing a GUI OSG workflow manager. The basic screen layouts and menu items have been designed. Efforts are underway to implement the design.

Assisted VOs GROW and ATLAS with running their applications on LIGO- CIT-ITB for OSG 0.3.7 validation.

Hardware Systems (Anderson)

Caltech

(Dan Kozak)

  • Built new /samtest filesystem out of 3510-10 and 3510-12.  Did lots of work with 3510-10 to try to make it work reliably (ongoing).
  • All caught up receiving Sun parts (3510 disks, controllers, T3 disk, V880 power supplies) except for T3 power supplies.
  • Replaced bad power supplies in samtest (V880).
  • Normal S5 tape ingestion stuff.
  • Continued to try to close the gap on L0 files that haven't made it to CIT in a timely fashion.
  • Rearchived all data on odd bad tape at LHO (from last week).
  • Worked on some tape drive problems at LLO.
  • Unwedged stuck gridftp-server processes on ldas-cit (staging stuck).

(Phil Ehrens)

  • General cluster maintenance tasks while Stuart Anderson and Erik Espinoza attended Condor Week.
  • General GRID certificate related tasks.
  • Investigated various modes for x509 based authentication of aliased domains under Apache. Multiple DNS entries and multiple virtual interfaces provide the most transparent solution, but a single globbing DNS entry is usable with client browsers requiring a per-session click-through to accept use of a single installed cert for an aliased server name.
  • Trivially ported the log_mon.tcl integrated monitoring/security/  reporting application for monitoring of desktop machines.  Only resource file mods were required (yay!).  13 machines on the Millikan 6th floor are currently being monitored.  I wrote a cron script which is run by the client machines to provide tripwire style file modification detection, and that is curently being tested on four desktop machines on the 6th floor of Millikan.  Documentation for this project is being maintained in the LDAS sysadmin wiki, q.v.  The cron script writes to syslog using the UNIX 'logger' utility, with the service flag "shasumcheck" identifying it's entries. All machines with this utility installed write their logs to a central syslog server where analysis occurs and reports are generated.
  • Configured ldas-suntest3 and ldas-suntest5 to use the Solaris installed Apache.
  • Discussed ongoing LDAS requirements with LDAS developers.
  • Tested lsync.tcl, the "standalone" diskcacheAPI on the Linux 32 bit and 64 bit platforms. It fails to start properly on either platform.  This program is currently tested as part of the LDAS distribution on Solaris only (where it runs fine). I opened a problem report against the failure of lsync.tcl on Linux.

(Erik Espinoza)

  • Contacted AMD about our node issues and provided info requested.
  • Gave Ben info on cloning BIOS information.
  • Built Postgresql 8.1 RPM packages for FC4 x86_64.
  • Wrote Quill Config for ldas-grid.
  • Troubleshooting job negotiation on Condor, jobs not matching properly.
  • Looked up spare Xeon mobo, making list of compatibility for shipping.
  • Testing AMD debug tools.
  • Node Issues - 327 Up, 3 arriving from ASA Soon.

-         5/4 node116 - Kernel Panic (rwsem.h:43)

-         5/4 node57 - Kernel Panic (rwsem.h:43)

-         5/1 node68 - Kernel Panic (MCE CPU0)

-         5/1 node59 - Kernel Panic (Watchdog CPU3)

-         5/1 node43 - Kernel Panic (MCE)

-         4/25 node325 - Kernel Panic (MCE CPU1)

-         4/25 node177 - Bad Disk (Disk 4, port 3)

-         4/24 node68 - Kernel Panic (MCE CPU1)

-         4/24 node4 - Kernel Panic (rwsem.h:43)

(Stuart Anderson)

  • Continued testing of small file deletion problem on SAM-QFS.
  • Attended one day LIGO-Condor summit meeting.
  • Started planning condor configuration changes to implement job scheduling policies that are more closely aligned with LIGO needs.
  • Started modifying cluster data staging tool to handle larger full frame directories (since each directory is larger than what one node can hold).
  • Continuing discussions with condor development team on dagman related issues.
  • Considering options to make data access easier in the control rooms.

MIT

(Keith Bayer)

  • Upgraded pcraid9 to latest Fedora kernel in hopes of getting beyond an nfs memory problem.
  • Talked with another shipper about cluster nodes to WSU.

Livingston

(Igor Yakushin)

  • GHLTV-SG21_V4_S4, GHLTV-SG22_V4_S4, GHLTV-GA2_V4_S4, GHLTV-WNB1_V4_S4, GHLTV-SG1_S5, GHLTV-SG1B_S5 burst MDC sets were copied from PSU to CIT via LDR.
  • RLS and LDR servers at LLO were restarted in order to revive downloading of L3, h(t), L4 LHO frames to LLO.

(Dwayne Giardina)

  • Ejected tapes for shipment to CIT and imported and labeled new tapes.
  • Replaced hda in node125 with hdb from node10, new hdb in node10; replaced hda in node162 with hdb from node11, new hdb in node11; replaced hdb in node154 with new; replaced hdb in node164 with new.
  • Attended Condor Week 2006 with Stuart and Erik.
  • Working on a ganglia replacement to monitor our cluster statistics.

Hanford

(Greg Mendell)

  • I have published S5 1800 second and 60 second version 2 SFTs at LHO and LLO for times between Dec. 17, 2005 and Jan. 31 2006, making these SFTs available via LSCdataFind at the sites. These SFTs were generated from h(t). I will be working to publish SFTs for times before and after this, and to transfer these SFTs from the sites to CIT via LDR, where they will be made available to the tier II centers.

(Ben Johnson)

  • Upgraded LDAS servers and fb1 to the latest SAM-QFS patch level.
  • Upgraded LDAS 3510 RAID unit to the latest firmware level.
  • Integrated diskcacheAPI functionality to enhance LDRdataFindServer, currently in testing at CIT.

General Computing (Wallace)

MIT

(Keith)

  • Working on SMF startup scripts for Solaris 10 -Switching back to native Solaris LDAP client utilities  due to lack of working ldap cache.  Takes about 5  seconds to process each mail message due to continual  ldap lookups without using the cache.  I have put  stunnel in between Solaris and my SSL/TLS required ldap  server to make the connection secure (and possible) -  someday Sun might make a decent operating system.
  • Getting ideas software on windows for scientist
  • Investigated webcamXP and Bosco screen share utilities

Livingston

(Dwayne)

  • Solidworks reinstall on Janeens PC to revert to correct version for the PDMWorks vault, all appears to be well -Apache has been requiring restarts on alix, need to migrate to a new server.
  • Installed FC5 on Sun X2100.  This is our new loghost and internal DNS, named and syslog-ng have been configured on the machine and it is now in production. The old loghost/DNS server was failing intermittently.
  • Assisted Bonnie with new LLO website development - Got a crash course from Shannon on what to do when there is trouble with network connection between LSU and LLO
  • Other usual user requests and support

(Shannon)

  • The LLO network went down for a while yesterday.  Ticket was opened with Bell South and they arrived this morning.  The network came back up last night without intervention.  Fujitsu has had a product advisory that has been out for ~1 yr to replace the former version of the repeater cards.  So, Bell changed three of the six cards on the circuit today.  I will keep an eye out for dropouts on the fiber and if there are any more dropouts they will likely replace the cards on the other segment.  Most dropouts are not noticed since they last < 5 seconds.
  • Spent some time planning the network drops for the outreach building.  The network drops will be "field routed" and the conduits just stub off above the drop ceiling.  Ordered the CAT5 for the network and CAT3 for the phone.
  • Troubleshooting web server problems.  Haven't been able to figure out exactly why Apache is bombing a couple times a day, though I also haven't had much time to look into it.
  • Worked with Dwayne on the DNS/loghost rebuild.
  • Began working on a Dell to replace the old HP scanner PC.  Work stopped when I was short one power adapter.  It has been ordered and it is on the way.
  • fixed the wireless in the auditorium

Hanford

(Christine)

  • We had a planned power outage Tuesday morning.  One of the Hanford sites adjoining LIGO needed to do maintenance on their electrical which is on the same line as ours.  Everything came back with out any problems, except for one monitor that seems to be dead.
  • I tested the backup network connection again.  If I plug a computer in to the media converter I get a network and can ping ESnet and the world.  If I plug my Fastethernet interface on the router in to the media converter, I see Transmit and Receive lights flashing, but I don't have a network.  I can't ping anyone except my router.  I've contacted Cisco.  There are a few more tests I can try.
  • Continued working on the PR and competitive justification to buy the new disk and backup systems.

CIT

(Mike)

  • Ran monthly ghost backups on all NTSRV's.
  • Worked on cleaning up home accounts, to free up some disk space.
  • Continued work on spam filters searching for false positives.
  • Setup SCR for (Dry Run) ADV LIGO NSF Review. Christian and Larry helped out setting up, and monitoring these meetings as well.
  • Started working on documentation on the new DCC servers that are hosting our new software "Synergy," regarding installation, how these two servers interact with one another, and the monthly backup process. Doing some research on how to get legato backup software to work with Domain Controllers.
  • Put together a backup scheme on the PDMWORKS server. Larry and Christian helped out with this project. The services for the Vault must be stopped in order to get a true backup of the Vault. We have written some .bat scripts to do this. These scripts stop, and start the service upon completion of the backup. This is done by running these scripts using the Scheduler that comes with Server 2003.
  • B/A server room: Assembled and installed a new UPS that Larry purchased. We also re-routed some network cables and relocated a few rack mounted servers. Christian gave me a have with this.
  • Other misc. user support.

(Bruce)

  • iLog Maintenance: (0.5 days), General maintenance and user account creation.

(Christian)

  • 3flr W/B - Replaced toner cartridges on HP 5500 printer.
  • Created a backup of Irene Baldon workstation.
  • Continuing working on updating all of the visitors'  workstation this week.
  • Updating the Ligo Inventory IP address database.
  • Mike and I installed new UPS/Backup in the server room.
  • Worked on debugging/testing of Bosco a screen sharing utility.  Assisted in Webcam XP setups.
  • Other misc.: Continued onsite software/phone support.

(Larry)

  • Tracking down a number of procurement items.  Still working on the computer from Monarch. They still have not found the problem.  Placing orders for new laptops and generating a new order for a dual core quad cpu unit.  Working on the Foundry maint. contract.
  • Spent a good part of Saturday getting computers back on line. We lost a UPS that supported a couple of the core servers. No known reason why it died, there was no warning and it will not come back on-line.
  • Worked on the monthly backups. Still have some work to do to finish them up.
  • Assisted Christian on some of the Webcam XP setup. Also, assisted in testing out the Bosco s/w pkg., it wouldn't work properly being accessed from behind a NAT router. We may look into the problem in more detail if we don't find another s/w solution.
  • Assisted the DCC on a couple of items. Also, worked a little on a posting for the LSC.
  • Continual work on user accounts, mail aliases and going through the spam filters.

Advanced LIGO and Supporting R&D (Shoemaker)

Advanced LIGO Systems, Management

Advanced LIGO Internal Review well underway, with reviews of Auxiliary Optics, Seismic, Data and Computing, Input Optics, Interferometer Sensing and Control, and Data Acquisition complete.

Seismic Isolation

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

Internal review preparations and execution.

From: "Joseph A. Giaime" jgiaime@ligo.phys.lsu.edu

Internal review preparations and execution.

From: Jay Heefner jay@ligo.caltech.edu

AdL SEI

  • Prototype preamps for the L4C and GS13 pods were fab'd, tested and sent to Joe at LLO for a fit check.
  • The design for the backplane and interface boards for the capacitive position sensors has been completed and the files sent out for fab. They should be back in ~ 1 week.

LASTI

  • Continued final assembly and checkout of components for LASTI HEPI conversion next week.
  • Completed design, fab, and test of new ADCU AA interface chassis to be installed next week.

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

HAM SAS

Ed Jasnow: has received the signed order from G&M, got it signed at Caltech, and sent back to G&M their official copy

BOM revised by Chiara and Riccardo according to modifications agreed in kickoff meeting (parts removed, added or revised and quantities revised) and sent to DCC and Ed Jasnow for no cost modification of order. http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~desalvo/HAMSAS/BOM-D051299-01.doc/

Gianni: Construction drawings finished delivered to DCC, from now on we expect only design changes “as built” or modification suggested by actual construction.

Still working on:

  • Cablings drawings
  • Crating and shipping drawings

Technoinox: delayed delivery material for samples of through penetration weld tobe sent to Caltech for inspection, and processed through cleaning and FTIR. Ready by Wednesday. In preparing the base structure they proposed additional scalloping to improve cleanability. Proposal accepted and implemented in drawings and in re-cutting parts.

Chiara:

Fabrication Schedule: Part fabrication status list & schedule temporarily available at http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~desalvo/HAMSAS/a-Produzione_ESEGUITI(5-May).doc/ to be posted with weekly revisions on the G&M web site Sent photos of some parts soon (later will post to the G&M web page).  Clean chamber preparations ongoing. A bid delivered (somewhat unsatisfactory), waiting for other bids. Expect to decide Wednesday 10th.

Preliminary tests for cleaning & baking

Paolo Soldi only needs 2 days to perform cleaning for the test He has been given several parts for testing: one iron, one SS, one Aluminum (including part #77 GAS filter plate after adding venting holes).  After cleaning and baking, G&M will arrange for FTIR testing by Eurolab

Eurolab (the FTIR company, see http://www.eurolab.it/) to visit G&M Thursday 11 and either perform test or collect parts -- they also need to decide how to organize the sampling of the other parts.

Ric:

  • made revisions of the assembly procedure document (removed or revised calibration & tuning at G&M and removed optics table) discussing revisions with G&M
  • 150 kg of UHV foil sent by Ric to G&M
  • ordered polyimide paint for the coils, arrived in Caltech Thursday
  • ordered higher temperature magnets to replace previous alloy magnets
  • sent web camera to G&M

Simulation & Controls Design

Virginio:

working on triple pend + HAM-SAS simulation -- has calculated the transmissibility for longitudinal direction -- no surprises -- will extend to other dofs & look at back reaction to SUS triple forces -- will have some preliminary results for next week

Valerio:

Measuring the LVDT readout noise

Yumei:

Inverted Pendulum (IP) dynamics modeling ongoing

Electronics

  • Ric & Jay met late last week for further determining cabling ¬ reviewed in-vac cabling -- defined LVDT, actuator and motor connectors -- 9pin D from Accuglass
  • Gianni making in vac drawings
  • Marwan, which is making the coils, will pre-wired them to Gianni's dwgs
  • Marwan is repackaging the LVDT electronics for us to minimize the cable routing -- defined dimensions of LVDT board as 1U or 2U high for 19 in rack
  • Virginio will review the Marwan design for the possibility of small changes of impedance match to coils as well as cabling/connectors
  • Jay to talk to Ken, next week while at LASTI, about ordering extra cables to allow sufficient number to test effect of possible acoustic shorting of the isolation system (can double or triple fold a single long ~25' cable for this purpose)

Suspension

From: Janeen Romie romie_j@ligo.caltech.edu

Working with Brett, Pradeep and Jay this week, to work out final cabling, osem & electronics issues.

Completed updating the SUS WBS Dictionary this morning.  Working with Caroline on a number of SUS estimate issues in preparation for the SUS dry run on Tuesday. Working on the cost/schedule presentation for Tuesday.

From: Ken Mailand kmailand@ligo.caltech.edu

I'm working on a lower quad installation arm concept, and a simpler part that may be used at the LASTI site, will send out an email for comments and input.

From: Helena Armandula ahelena@ligo.caltech.edu

Requested and received an up-dated quote for the gold coating of the electrostatic drive to support the Adv. LIGO SUS NSF review.

From: "Mark Barton" <mbarton@ligo.caltech.edu>

This week I did some modeling work to help Ian Wilmut understand the "marionette" quad prototype being assembled at Birmingham, specifically, the expected response of the equilibrium position to manipulation of the various adjustment mechanisms. First I created a customized version of the quad model with a large number of extra parameters representing perturbations to the geometry. However initially I wasn't getting sensible equilibrium positions because I had long ago taken a shortcut in my pendulum modeling toolkit and left the wire stiffness terms out of that part of the calculation. This was fine for symmetrical pendulums and/or pendulums that didn't rely on the wire stiffness for stability.  However the AdvLIGO quad would fall over in pitch if not for the elasticity of the wire, so I had to go back and add this as an option.  The new v2.5 toolkit has been giving sensible results so I released it on the modeling website (<http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~mbarton/SUSmodels/>).

I've also been working with Norna to come up with a final parameter set to describe the as-built controls prototype, as well as an improved version of the Matlab model that is equivalent to the latest version of the Mathematica model and includes the effects of lateral compliance of the blades. The Matlab code is completely done and the parameter set is almost done except for some blade parameters that need to be double checked against the lab book.

Core Optics

From: Bill Kells kells@ligo.caltech.edu

We now have some very nice data for simultaneous ITM07 scans measuring both HR scatter and absorption. The "control" here is a thoroughly cleaned patch of the same surface (previously know to have ~ factor 10 less mean absorption). The cleaned patch mean scatter loss (scatter signal to loss was calibrated with auxillary scans of previously measured standard surfaces) was found to be consistent with the scatter loss level of other CSIRO polished LIGO I TMs, and was about a factor 10 less than the mean scatter of the un cleaned, contaminated scan. To check that this dramatic increase is not due merely to "ordinary" (non-absorptive) dust accumulation in the lab, we look at the detailed correlation of scatter vs. absorption for all scan pixels. Indeed there is a strong increase in scatter for minimally absorbing points. However there is a strong true correlation of the dominant high absorption points with high scatter values.

Two issues are being worked on with regard to parametric instabilities. First there are new simulation results from Australia (Pablo Barraga). Several problems with the previous round of simulation of the RT cavity loss for high order cavity modes had been pointed out. In addressing these, Pablo has arrived at significantly lower diffractive loss values. This now disagrees with the "consensus" values arrived at by various routes (e.g. Biplab Bhawal) last summer. I've been working on resolving the various issues at work here: which results (if any) are correct.

Second, since the March LSC meeting A. Melissinos and Stefanos have more measurements on H1 at the FSR. They claim clear evidence of the onset of an "instability" as the ifo power is increased. I am working on discussing this with them to get a better understanding of what is being observed (its hard to reconcile the phenomenon as described with a true PI, though it seems that something interesting has been found).

From: GariLynn Billingsley <Billingsley_G@ligo.caltech.edu>

Scatter & Absorption investigation

Liyuan completed a new analysis of scatter and absorption data from 4ITM07.  In this analysis average scatter and absorption correlate well, though we still have to investigate the absolute calibration of the scatter signal, as it does not yet show the value measured at the Hanford Observatory.

Absorption calibration is quite consistent with that seen at Hanford.  The current noise level on the coating absorption measurement is approximately .2ppm on average and .5ppm peak to peak.  Liyuan believes this is due to the instability of the HeNe probe beam power.  He will be looking at ways to stabilize this in preparation for the more sensitive requirements of Advanced LIGO coating absorption measurement.

From: Helena Armandula ahelena@ligo.caltech.edu

Advanced LIGO Coatings

CSIRO is optimizing a Ti doped silica coating to minimize optical absorption.

Scatter measurements on 2ITM04 continue at Lyon.

Input Optics

From: David Reitze reitze@phys.ufl.edu

Internal review preparations and execution.

Pre-Stabilized Laser

From: Peter King pking@ligo.caltech.edu

Preparation for the NSF baseline review continues with cross-checking between various files to see if things are consistent.

My adventures with Xilinx continue.  After ordering some evaluation software that actually generates the bitstream for the DSP board, I received an empty envelope with a packing slip stating that the software CD was enclosed.  So far their customer service has been sadly lacking.  I was promised that a copy would be sent out ASAP.  We shall see.  On the plus side I did receive some training materials that ought to come in handy.

Auxiliary Optics

From: Michael Smith smith@ligo.caltech.edu

PO MIRROR

Chris Echols, is working on a SW model of the PO mirror bezel.

LAYOUT

I have revised the layout as follows:

  • use the BS prompt reflected ghost beam from the AR surface to extract the ITMX PO beam. This eliminates the suspended. ITMX PO mirror. Use the same ITMX PO telescope to launch and receive the Hartmann ITMX recycling cavity beam, separating the IFO beam and the Hartmann beam with a dichroic beam splitter.
  • make the first BS PO mirror the primary mirror of a beam reducing telescope, eliminate the other two suspended BS PO mirrors, the secondary mirror of the BS PO telescope is suspended on a SOS on HAM4.
  • the Hartman ITMX and ITMY recycling cavity beam expanding telescopes are the identical off-axis parabolic design as the ITM PO telescopes, to eliminate the glint of the IFO ghost beam back into the IFO and to reduce back-scatter.
  • the Hartman BS, ITMHRX, and ITMHRY beam expanding telescopes will be a refractive design.
  • OMMT mirror 1, LOS; and OMMT mirror 2, SOS form a beam reducing telescope. OMMT mirror 3, SOS, steers the dark port beam through an output Faraday isolator and delivers the reduced beam to the ISC detection chamber.

PO TELESCOPE

I am arranging to visit Tydex J.S. Co., the source in Russia that produces off-axis parabolic mirrors, while I am on vacation in Russia in July.

NSF REVIEW

I scrubbed the AOS schedule to eliminate redundant first article fabrication for all three IFOs.

Controls, Data systems

From: Rolf Bork rolf@ligo.caltech.edu

  • Assembling and packing all the parts to install new PCI-X based Hepi controls for three chambers at Lasti next week.
  • Alex updated our standard filter module software. Besides IIR filters, we can now define and load polyphase FIR filters into any of the 10 filter slots within a filter module (mix and match). In Ligo Hepi, we had to have one filter module to do the downsampling, one piece of custom code to then do the polyphase FIR, and then a third filter module for upsampling. In this scheme, all three filters are loaded into the same filter module.
  • Armed with this new code, I was able to generate the full code set for three chambers from my Simulink file. I will try to test this code as much as possible before everything is gone, but I'm sure more testing will be required once we get set up at Lasti.
  • Thanks to Stuart Anderson, who sent me an email pointing to a computing news posting, I was able to locate a vendor which provides optical links for PCI express. With the PCI express expansion system we are now testing, the copper cable limit is 3 meters. Using this fiber link, we can go 300 meters. That would allow us to remote our computers from the I/O chassis, plus get the other advantages of fiber (no ground loops). I have an email in now to verify with the vendor of our PCI express expansion unit that this fiber product is in fact compatible.

Other Laboratory R&D

From: Riccardo DeSalvo desalvo@ligo.caltech.edu

Suspensions Seismic General Issues:

Riccardo:

Following the emerging post mortem results from the Hanford ITS test mass (both particle and a deposited film seem to have contributed to the anomalous heating), studying methods to prevent future pollutions of test masses either by dust or outgassing.

Discussing with Bunting, identified slightly different Nd magnet alloy that allow raising their baking temperature from 80C to 150C. These magnets are slightly less or equal in strength than those usable in the Suspensions. It appears that now the highest limit in suspension baking temperature is given by the OSEM at 125C.

Discussed with Flometrics on methods to establish laminar flow in the BSCs during installation.

They will make a business proposition on how to study and solve the problem. The preliminary idea emerged from the discussion at LMA and discussed at the last LSC seems viable.

From the discussion it emerged that there would be a fringe benefit on top of controlling the dust problem. Establishing a flow of laminar flow would also circulate dried air, which would drag out the personnel breathing humidity (as well as their heath) before it can come to the surfaces and reduce the water burden to be pumped out before opening the gate valves.

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