Weekly Report for Week Ending September 11, 2009

Past Weekly Reports

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LSC Issues (Reitze)

• An LSC-Virgo-wide conference call seminar "Multi-Messenger Astronomy Opportunities for LIGO and Virgo" was presented by Peter Shawhan for the Burst group today.  The purpose of the seminar was to present specific proposals for GW observations and searches in conjunction with other types of electro-magnetic observations. These proposals will be further discussed at the L-V meeting in Amsterdam.
• The LSC Education and Public Outreach Group has submitted a proposal to the NSF for funding an exhibit at the World Science Festival in New York City in June 2009.  The professionally designed exhibit will serve to educate the general public about gravitational-wave astronomy and then be moved to a permanent location in New York.  In addition, an MOU has been signed with the World Science Festival to make the exhibit a signature event of the meeting.

LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

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STATUS OF LSC MOUs (Lloyd)

MOU	Attachments	Approved
ACIGA	ACF, DAT, LAS, OPS, OPT, OUT, SUS, Z
Andrews University	DAT, OPS, OUT, Z
Balearic Islands	DAT, Z	x
Carleton College	DAT, OPS, Z	x
Caltech Exper. Grav.-Physics Group	SUS, Z	x
Caltech Relativity Group	ACF, DAT, OPT, OUT, Z	x
Columbia University	DAT, OPS, OUT, Z	x
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University	DAT, OPT, SUS, Z	x
Eotvos University	DAT, OPS, OUT, Z
Florida, University of	ACF, DAT, OPS, OPT, OUT, SUS, Z	x
GEO600	ACF, DAT, LAS, OPS, OPT, OUT, SUS, Z	x
Goddard Grav. Wave Astrophys.Group	DAT, OPS, Z	x
Hobart & William Smith Colleges	OPS, OPT, OUT, SUS, Z	x
Institute of Applied Physics	OPT, OUT, Z
IUCAA	DAT, Z	x
Louisiana State University	DAT, OPS, SUS, Z	x
Louisiana Tech University	DAT, OPS, OUT, Z	x
Maryland, University of	DAT, OPS, Z	x
Massachusetts at Amherst, University of	DAT, OPS, Z	x
Michigan Gravitational Wave Group	DAT, OPS, OUT, Z	x
Minnesota, University of	DAT, OPS, SUS, Z	x
Mississippi, Uiversity of	DAT, OPS, OUT, Z	x
Montana Grav. Wave Astronomy Group	DAT, Z	x
Moscow State University	Z
NAOJ-TAMA	ACF, Z	x
Northwestern University	ACF, DAT, Z
Oregon, University	DAT, OPS, OUT, Z	x
Pennsylvania State University	DAT, OPS, OUT, Z	x
Rochester Institute of Technology	DAT, OUT, Z	x
Rochester, University of	DAT, Z	x
San Jose State University	ACF, Z	x
Sannio, University of at Benevento	DAT, OPT, Z
Sonoma State University	LAS, OUT, Z
Stanford University	ACF, LAS, OPS, OPT, OUT, SUS, Z	x
Syracuse University	DAT, OPS, OPT, Z	x
Texas, University of at Austin	DAT, OUT, Z
Texas, University of at Brownsville	DAT, OPS, OPT, OUT, Z	x
Trinity University	OPT, OUT, Z	x
Washington State University	DAT, OPS, Z	x
Wisconsin at Milwaukee, University of	DAT, OPS, Z

 

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PROPERTY ACCOUNTING (Luna)

• Reviewed shipping invoices for July and August.
• Assisted G. Billingsley in making shipping arrangements for the fused silica compensation plate from CIT to LASTI.
• Assisted P. King with requesting proper classification for four Photodiodes that are going to be sent to the Max Planck Institute, Germany.

DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner, Mak)

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

• Added password security on certain internal reports.
• In the process of working on verification/determining cite references for the FY 2008 LIGO Operations Annual Report Publications List.

FINANCIAL SYSTEMS (Funaro, Oracion)

>From: "Funaro, Catherine" <Catherine.Funaro@caltech.edu>

• For ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HISTORY Press Here.

>From: Karl Oracion <koracion@ligo.caltech.edu>>

• Completed FY2008 monthly operations report as of the end of August 2008 and posted report on the network.
• Sent out monthly reports for Visitor's program, Outreach program, U.Wisconsin award, MIT Grid, Low Noise, I2U2 and three discretionary awards.
• Provided data/charts for end of August 2008 EAC reports
• Currently testing various reports on COGNOS (Caltech's new ORACLE data extraction tool for campus users) [PEL note: Karl is conservative about advertising prematurely, but it seems that COGNOS may actually be able to provide some useful reports directly to the task managers.  We are working with the IMSS people to set up an account structure that will support our reporting needs.]
• Financial reports can be found at: http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport. (For passwords contact Karl)

SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Jasnow, Salone)

>From: Rudy Arvizu <arvizu_r@ligo.caltech.edu>

• The MIT contract has been approved and is being forwarded to them for signature.
• The glass blanks contract has been modified by Grace Fisher-Adams to add language for a foreign procurement.  The contract will be sent to Adilia Koch for review.
• The bids for the test stand are due tomorrow.  They will be reviewed by an evaluation committee next week.

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

• The contract with for the HEPI actuators is being prepared and will go into the review cycle today, September 11.
• Bids for the LLO warehouse modifications are due on October 1.
• The selection has been made for the crossbeam foot procurement, and the contract is being prepared.

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

• Ed Jasnow has been working with Carol Wilkinson, Bert Cresta, and various task managers on the FY09 Acquisition Plan for Advanced LIGO.  As a result of combinations and splitting apart procurements due to schedule, eight items have been removed from the plan thus far.
• Because the clean room bids came in more than 25 percent below the LIGO estimate, the contract must be submitted to the NSF for approval, along with a negotiation memorandum.  Preparations are underway for both documents.
• Ed Jasnow and Rudy Arvizu are meeting with Grace Fisher-Adams of the Office of General Counsel to discuss revisions in the terms and conditions of LIGO contracts.  A number of contractors have taken exception to certain terms.  This is causing delays in getting out our procurements.

PROPOSALS and REPORTS (Lindquist)

• Last week we issued a request for contributions for the monthly status report that is due to the NSF on Monday, September 15.  Contributions are due to me today.  Only one remains to be submitted.
• We are in the process of preparing an Annual Report for Current Operations.  Dave Beckett is preparing the primary sections and we hope to have a draft for review next week.
• We are preparing the accounts structure for the new cooperative agreement that due to start October 1, 2008.  We will provide the accounts to the Office of Sponsored Research so that they can set up the accounts and we can test the system and begin moving procurements.  We are waiting for an “at risk” account number from the Provost’s Office.
• We will be reviewing the LIGO Operations Financial Status on Monday using the end of August data.  We will be issuing summary materials to the task manager tomorrow or over the weekend.

CHANGE REQUESTS (Lindquist)

• There are no open change requests.

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Quality/Safety (Tyler)

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

• The annual safety audit of LHO was complegted on 11, 12 Sept.

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

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

• The PSL free-running frequency noise was measured with the PMC. While the open-loop frequency noise is above the requirement, projections for eLIGO and AdL closed-loop performance are better than spec by an order of magnitude, broadband
• Pyrex and silicone TCSX mirrors were replaced with gold-coated copper ones
• hardware and software shutters are in place to protect OMC photodiodes; software is faster...
• tiptilts 1 and 2 yield dither loops that are largely degenerate; proposed solutions include a gain hierarchy, or a rearrangement on HAM6. Details on proposed solutions are posted here
• ISI work has resumed, after fixing problems with excitations (awgstream was not working) and acquiring data from nds0 (the nds process had died)

Astrowatch (P. Patel)

• We had an uptime of 50% and a science time of around 25%. Once again we are mostly troubled by a series of ongoing computer issues. Computers are booting more frequently and we are having trouble relying on any of them
• We are going to get two new astrowatch students next week Miquel and Llucia from Mallorca Spain. Matt West from Syracuse joined us last week and will be here for 3 months
• We started the astrowatch journal club series with me presenting a lecture on LSC loops. Adam will present one on cavities next week

LHO Outreach (D. Ingram)

• The LIGO roadshow visited Glenwood School near Mt Adams on 9/8.  Both Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams are visible near the schoolyard.  90% of students in the Glenwood school district stopped by during the day for some hands-on science (~60 kids, ranging upwards from age 4).

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

General Operations (Rusyl Wooley):

• We are continuing the recovery effort from last week's shutdown.  The main volumes in all three buildings are open to their respective cryopump(s). AdLIGO facility mods continue.  The new parking/receiving/storage area has been graded and formed.  We will pour concrete this coming Tuesday.

Enhanced LIGO commissioning (Valera Frolov):

• The interferometer subsystems were brought back to operations after the hurricane Gustav: HEPI and ISI, suspensions, PSL, and CDS.
• The input optics were aligned, the reflected port optical table was put back in place, and power budget was taken. The power transmission from the PSL to the RM is currently 70%. This will be improved after the mode cleaner mode matching is redone during the phase II PSL upgrade in October. The MC visibility is currently 93% it was 97% during S5.
• The ISI commissioning is continuing. The RX and RY isolation loops have been implemented. The work on XYZ isolation loops is underway.
• The OMC/ISI ADC PROMs were changed to fix the problem of zeroing on overflow. The ISI ADC were tested after that and the fix appeared to be working. The OMC controls and settings are being brought back.

Safety & Security (Rich Riesen):

• Completed technical and laser safety walk-thru for the 35 Watt laser system which included the PSL and Laser Diode Room (LDR) for seven staff members. This will be on going until all appropriate personnel are qualified. Documented same.
• Technical overview was performed by Valery Frolov.  Safety overview was performed by Rich Riesen (LSO).
• Continuing to update safety documents.
• Updating laser user signage to reflect current NHZ access status.
• Working with Ericka Forsi for her "Zone" access status.
• All site fire extinguishers have been checked for proper pressure and usability.  Units have been signed off for the month of September '08.
• All site safety lights were checked for proper operation.  All fixtures function normal.
• Exterior doors along the beam tubes, corner station, SEC and staging bldg. have been checked to ensure they were properly locked.  All doors were locked. (this is a twice-a-week event)

LIGO computing and network security (Roddy)

Reported under General Computing, see below

General computing and LDAS admin (Giardina)

Reported under General Computing, see below

Reported under LDAS System Administration, see below

Data analysis & computing (Yakushin)

Storage/Condor/LDAS admin:

Reported under LDAS System Administration, see below

Data analysis:

Reported under Data Analysis activities, see below

Mechanical and Optical Systems (Coyne)

See Advanced LIGO

Controls and Data Systems (Bork)

See Advanced LIGO

40-Meter Interferometer (Adhikari)

• The mode cleaner has been working fine for a few days. The POY RF amplifier, which was temporarily used for the FSS LO amplifier, was put back to the original duty, so that the lock acquisition experiment can be resumed. A Wenzel oscillator arrived from Hanford. Peter will put together a new 21.5MHz reference for the FSS once we receive an RF amp, a splitter, attenuators etc. from mini-circuits.
• We found loose cables for -24V supply in the IOO rack. The ISS had been behaving strangely (saturates easily). After fixing the power supply cable, the ISS seems to be working fine.
• The absolute length measurement was resumed by Alberto. The PLL is now working. The NPRO beam and the dark port IFO beam were aligned. Beating between the injected NPRO and the IFO beam was observed at the Y-end when the NPRO beam resonates in the arm.
• We are designing automation of the measurement process by developing network connected GPIB/EPICS interfaces.

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Thermal Noise Interferometer (Black)

Akira:

• New suspensions have been built. He is gluing magnets now. He also obtained window-cover drawings from Steve Vass and is in the process of modifying them for the TNI viewports.

Greg:

• Still debugging the photothermal experiment. The data is curious and not what we expected. Greg is doing a series of sanity checks on the experiment to see if he is really measuring what he thinks he is measuring. We will report more when that data is in.

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LASTI (Mittleman)

BSC-ISI

• We are still working on stage one, had some computer/matlab problems with the SysId this week. We are hoping to have results with stage 1 running for the up coming meeting.

Quad Prototype

• No News is Good News

SEI

• Myron and Andy have been working on a method to remove the HAM chamber gullwings and replace them with Andy’s newly designed stiffer beams.

CIT Science Group (Weinstein)

____________________

Gregory Mendell:

• I have had some further discussions with people at LHO about the CW group's plans for producing fscans during S6.

____________________

Antony Searle:

• Produced sky map posteriors for JW1+BRST3 injections and the equinox event.
• Called into weekend bursts face-to-face meeting.
• Joined blinded team to rush Omega pipeline S5Y2/VSR1 analysis.
• Updated Omega pipeline job scripts.
• Re-implemented the Bayesian code in C for performance and portability gains.

____________________

Kipp Cannon:

• Continued investigations of low-latency online data analysis techniques  for inspiral searches * continued s4 cosmic string cusp review .
• Telecons:  daswg, inspiral, inspiral-code, s4 string review.

____________________

Kent Blackburn for the Grid Computing Research Team:

GRID APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

• Wrote agenda and lead LIGO-Pegasus and OSG-USERS telecons.
• Wrote  minutes for LIGO-Pegasus telecon.
• Attend Inspiral Coding, DASWG  and OSG-USERS telecons.

E@OSG ACTIVITIES

• Currently running steadily at BNL_ATLAS_1, TTU_ANTAEUS, Nebraska,  and SPRACE_CE.
• Contacted Ian Stokes-Reeses concerning LIGO's removal from VO  trusted list of SBGrid.
• Troubleshooting RCAC, CIT_CMS_T2, AGLT2, Nebraska.

BINARY INSPIRAL ACTIVITIES

• Tested and troubleshot SPEW with  Pegasus nightly build 09-07 on  NEMO, CIT_CMS_T2, BNL_ATLAS_1.
• Tested ihope run (LDG/OSG) with pegasus nightly built, but it is  currently failing.
• Tested dynamic cleanup, fail at last cleanup job.
• Tested SPEW with new sites schema, fail due to conflict with a  python command in ldg_submit_dax.

OSG VO GROUP ACTIVITIES

• Contact Geant4 and GRASE VO concerning their (under) utilization  of OSG resources.
• Continuing to set up my desktop as a job submission host:
  • got pegasus nightly build
  • submit SPEW work-flow: fail, condor not running on Bosco: need    ldg server not client
  • install glue/lala/lalapps/pylal: fail:  ./00boot fail due to missing packages
  • after installation of ldg server, submitted work-flow successfully,    but data transfer fails

OSG INTEGRATION AND VALIDATION TESTBED

• New Dell servers to be used in the new OSG ITB/VTB cluster have arrived  at Caltech's shipping and receiving dock. I contacted them to arrange  for delivery and to arrange payment of delivery.
• Met with Stuart to discuss logistics of set up in the computer room.
• Still awaiting one cable for general computing connection to be  delivered.
• Made several phone calls and sent out several emails to track down the  invoices for this cluster to allow the account to be closed out. Worked  closely with Karl Oracion on this.

GRID COMPUTING MANAGEMENT

• Organized and held monthly OSG Council teleconference. Posted the  agenda on the website prior to the meeting and captured and posted  the minutes after the meeting.
• Discussed my evolution of my roles and work plan within the OSG for  the next year with Albert, the OSG executive director and the OSG  project manager.
• Began gathering materials for an OSG talk I am to give at the LIGO-  VIRGO Collaboration meeting.
• Discussed the complexities of the LSC user process for getting a  certificate and an account on the LIGO Data Grid with Stuart. Drafted  a rough diagram of the process which captures a minimum of 20 high  level steps from the time the user is interested in getting onto the  LDG and when the user is actually able to use the resources. These  steps involve the user, the authorizing agents, the sponsor/pi and  system administrators. The AuthComm project should hopefully improve  this process.
• Encountered an unusually large number of problem requests for grid  computing credentials and user accounts this week, requiring several  days to sort out those that have been sorted out. There are still  quite a few problematic requests in the queue that need special  attention.  Attended the CompComm and SCAT weekly meetings.

____________________

Cristina V. Torres:

• Continue to work on CBC follow up document.
• Continue to investigate new potential DQ flag based on WFS2_IY for LLO.
• Improve tracksearch subroutines for cleaner and quicker pre-processing of input data.
• Work with S. Mukherjee on using UTB's multidimensional glitch classification pipeline attached to the tracksearch pipeline.

____________________

Diego Fazi:

• Continued tuning the snr threshold for PTF so as to get the same background rate as SPA.
• Performed spinning injections in the region of kappa where SPA is expected to perform worse than PTF (0.3<|kappa|<0.7) to check that this is indeed the case * Started writing my thesis!

____________________

Chad Hanna:

• I helped Becky finish up the Galaxy completion code for inspiral upper limits.
• I worked more on IMR banks.
• I continued working on low latency inspiral pipelines.
• I held the High mass call.  Convincing evidence to use EOBNR for filtering was presented.

____________________

Drew Keppel:

• Getting the S5 1Yr Low Mass CBC paper ready for circulation to the LSC.

____________________

Igor Yakushin:

• Participated in the burst f2f meeting this weekend.
• During f2f we opened the box on L1H1H2 network on the second year of S5 (using coherent WaveBurst).
• During this week burst telecon L1H1H2V1 network box was opened.
• Preparing to open the box on H1H2 and L1H1V1 networks during the next week burst telecon so that the results can be presented at the Amsterdam meeting.

____________________

Joseph Betzwieser:

• I've been running and helping Pinkesh debug the CW resampling code.

____________________

Becky Tucker:

• Finished galaxy catalog completion function in inspinj.c. Submitted bug report and will discuss at code call next week.
• Exploring differences in the bank veto at the first stage and the second stage.
• Working on creating an effective SNR type statistic with the bank veto and/or continuous chi-squared that can be computed at first coincidence.

____________________

Anand Sengupta:

• Presented the numerous changes required for bandpassing and tapering in LAL at the code call telecon.
• Accommodated all the changes that were requested by group members regarding the code changes. Some of these changes were quite extensive.
• Tested the pipeline to check that nothing was broken.
• Went to the Dutch embassy to get my Netherlands Visa to attend the LSC meeting in Amsterdam.

____________________

Pinkesh Patel:

• Found a serious bug with resampling ( in the theory) but luckily found an elegant solution to it too. The bug entails patching up contiguous SFTs together in a manner that preserves the phase between each block. It arises from the fact that the gaps between each block are not necessarily integral multiples of the the deltaT, which in turn is a variable and depends on the band desired by the user. The solution involves keeping track of these "jumps" and taking them into account when performing the resampling.
• Worked on writing a perl version of the ezlockin script. Managed to successfully finish it.
• Gave a lecture on LSC loops to the astrowatch students, as part of the ongoing astrowatch journal club.

Laboratory Computing (Anderson)

LDAS Software Systems (Maros)

• The preliminary work on modifying frameCPP for use in the frame builder has been completed. Full testing of this code base will start on Friday. The big change is that when writing frames to a stream, any FrVects that need to be compressed are not compressed in place, but instead a compressed copy is generated and written to the stream. This will allow the FrameBuilder to continue to re-use the same basic frame structure from one frame instance to the next.
• Several of the system tests have been modified to make them more robust against false failures.
• The version of LDAS on ldas-test has been updated to 1.9.415. The main purpose of this is to look for long term issues that may have been introduced with recent modifications to the code base.
• The conversion of regression tests pr2824.tcl, pr2946.tcl, pr2873.tcl, and pr2793.tcl to be part of the standard system testing framework was completed this week.

LDAS System Administration (Anderson)

Caltech

(Dan Kozak)

• Followed up with Sun on a variety of cases (opterondata-dev hardware problem, morbo crash, T10KB performance).
• Weekly check of frame files in CIT cluster showed no new bad frames, but for the second week in a row node67 was the slowest to finish the check (by how much I'm not sure).  Just FYI.
• Helped Igor get 3510-2 & the associated ZFS export-llo working again after the power came on at LLO.
• Identified the bad ExtTrig frames and gave the list to Emelie so they could be regenerated.
• Worked on getting Sun to let us give them money to install the CACR 9940B drives in our SL8500.  The work is now scheduled for early next week.
• Got the new production T10KB drives connected to the SAN and started configuring test for them.  Found one bad drive and called it in to Sun, ditto the tape that got stuck in another one of these drives.
• Staged and pinned some data for Shourov.
• Discovered problem with some LLO L0 data where both tape copies seem to have been shipped to CIT.  Working to identify any other data that has this problem and then fix it.
• Worked with Greg some on how best to configure the S5 RDS "data train". * Helped (?) a little on the LLO trend publishing debugging.

MIT

(Fred Donovan)

• 220vac stuff re: thumper, some kickstart documentation.

Livingston

(Igor Yakushin)

• There was a power outage last week due to the huricane Gustav: no physical damage to LDAS equipment.
• Sorting out problems with publishing scripts.
• Despite of the fact that DB2 segment database was cleanly shut down before the hurricane, the replication got broken and was fixed yesterday by Ping.

Hanford

(Greg Mendell)

• I have started generating the S5 Special Det. Char./Timing RDS frames for use in further veto and timing studies of the S5 data, as described in this email to the Det. Char. mailing list: http://relativity.phys.lsu.edu/
  pipermail/detchar/2008-September/000082.html

General Computing (Wallace)

MIT

(Fred)

• Setup notebook for Marie.
• Misc desktop issues Stephany, Marie.
• Some end-of-year purchasing.
• Some considerable time evaluating opteron vs xeon - loading rtl, etc for compute machine.
• Some solidworks installs ...

Livingston

(Dwayne)

• Worked a number of procurement items.
• Work on new parts management system, database tweaks and UI development.
• Helped a user migrate from POP to IMAP.
• Recovery from Gustav power outage.
• Replaced tapes in GC library, ran full backup.
• Set up new external HD for a user.
• Numerous usual/unusual user support requests.
• Cleared spam trap.

Hanford

(Larry)

• Purchased a number of computers and related items. The server will not ship for another week but most of the other items have arrived.
• Installed/setup a number of workstations. Most are replacements with a couple of spare units for future use.
• Rebuilt and repaired a couple of older computers. Surplussed out some of the old equipment no longer in use. Using a pre-release a copy of the ISO that Christian has been building helped save a lot of time on the windows based box rebuilds. There were some minor problems with the rebuild process but all were quickly resolved. Overall the new ISO worked very well.
• Installed a new sandbox server and setup an old unit to where it can now be phased out.
• Cleaned up a number of general client boxes.
• Assisted a number of users with the setup of different specialty applications and hardware.
• Worked on the mail server and updated some of the filter files. Still more work to be done on that box.
• Rack mounted and installed the OS another server for AdvLIGO, to get the units hardware tested out.
• Met with Dave, Fred, and Greg at different times to discuss candidates for the local sysadmin position.
• General user assistance.
• A thanks to Dave and Richard for all their help while I was at the Observatory. Still a lot to do.

(Mike)

• Reset dhcp system.

Caltech

(Christian)

• Continued working on new Unattended Windows Xp with SP3. I'm adding additional Sata drive drivers and Office 2007 security patches.
• Riccardo Desalvo - Created backup image of Riccardo's Time Machine drive.
• Helped Riccardo's Surf student regarding remote desktop connection and file transferring.
• Tara Chalermsongsak - Installed Microsoft Visio 2007 and enable remote desktop.
• Other misc.: Continued onsite software/phone support.

(Mike)

• Worked on swapping out Calum with his new Engineering workstation and setup a dual monitor system as well.
• Installed additional Engineering software for a few users.
• Made purchases for hardware upgrades for users via Techmart.
• Problems with our SolidWorks licenses. I now have this taken care of. We had users that left the project and their license's were not released. This created havoc with SolidWorks license server, when I tried using a license that was in use on 2 workstations. I have this situation somewhat under control accept one license which I'm still searching for.
• Worked on backing up and installing patches on one of our mail servers. Larry & Stuart helped out with this.
• Hardware upgrades on a few of our Engineering workstations.
• Mail server: Clearing out trapped spam & adding false positives to our white-list per users request.
• Setup a few user accounts.
• Called in a Sun X4600, which included a lot of trouble shooting with a Sun Engineer trying to figure out a memory issue. I have asked to get the memory replaced rather than continuing to trouble shoot this issue, things seem to be getting worse. They are now sending out a Field Engineer to fix this issue.
• Help a user with his laptop, which had some unknown processes running in the back ground that was slowing down his computer.
• Worked on some DCC issues for Linda/Cleveland.
• Other misc. user support and other sysadmin tasks.

(Melody)

• Worked on Apache configuration for DocDB so that the browser prompts the user for login when accessing a file with non-public permission.
• Worked on trying to use Kerberos with DocDB.
• DCC numbering in DocDB:   Done with most of the coding.   Testing to see if there are any more need to be converted.

(Veronica)

• LSC:  Continued working on the ligo.org redo.  Implemented changes per comments by Dave Reitze and others.  Worked with Dave Beckett on additional content for the new site.  Looking into a couple of solutions for remaining issues.  Updates of the database of technical papers, MOU web application.
• LIGO:  User support -- Assisted Rudy A. with file recovery.  Updates of the roster database, other web related updates.

(Larry)

• Some procurement items still being tracked.
• Assisted a number of users remotely as well as some modifications to different accounts.
• Worked with Mike on some mail alias issues and a couple of different server issues.

Advanced LIGO and Supporting R&D (Shoemaker)

Advanced LIGO Management

No report.

Advanced LIGO Systems

Dennis Coyne <coyne@ligo.caltech.edu>, Peter Fritschel <pf@ligo.mit.edu>, Calum Torrie<ctorrie@ligo.caltech.edu>, Matt Evans <mevans@ligo.mit.edu>

AdL Project-Funded Activities

• Design Reviews: For a list of reviews, see the main AdL wiki page
• The BS/FM suspension mechanical/subsystem Final Design and Fabrication Readiness Review (FDR/FRR) has begun. The committee meets this Friday to discuss questions and concerns
• The PSL Preliminary Design Review (PDR) has begun. The committee has met to discuss initial questions. A face-to-face meeting with the design team is scheduled in parallel with the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration meeting.

Procurement Reviews

• Reviewed the assembly clean rooms bids and made a recommendation for award.
• Reviewed the QA officer's guidance for suppliers/contractors/vendors for use in developing RFPs & RFQs
• Technical Review Board (TRB): see the TRB log
• Vacuum Review Board (VRB): nothing to report.

Configuration Control:

• Calum has continued work with Melody and Linda on testing the new DCC and developing a means of usign the DCC and PDMWorks for configuration control of drawings

Design:

• Optical Layout: Luke Williams has explored the possibility of setting all recycling cavity optics at the same height as the TM. He finds that while this works for the power RC, he lacks the range of length adjustment anticipated to be needed (due to ROC tolerances) for the signal RC. He will next look at the case of rotating the small TM wedge angle (0.08 deg) to vertical and allowing the beam to walk down through the RCs, while keeping the PR3/SR3 and PR2/SR2 normal vectors horizontal. Mike Smith will see if such a solution maintains the capability to use the SRC telescope for the ITMy pickoff beam.

Parametric Instability (PI): 

• Continued work on a finite element calculation to check the closed form solution of the test mass vibration coupling to the addition of dynamic, passive absorbers (pending document T080194-01). 
• Calum seveloped a script for exporting ANSYS modal results for use in Matt's Matlab routine to evaluate a merit function for the addition of dynamic, passive absorbers. Still some questions regarding export of the modal masses. Have begun to crunch out modal calculations (thousands of modes)
• Test Mass barrel, thermal sleeve (shield): Phil Willems has made further progress on the analysis of the effeciveness of the thermal standoff shield (alternative to a gold coated TM barrel). 
• HAM1 (ISC output chamber) Isolation: We need to establish whether the baseline approach of using pneumatic isolators on the four piers is adequate (or whether we should incorporate HEPI into the HAM1 isolation system). Have built a quasi-rigid body model which includes the pneumatic isolators and thedirectional stiffnesses of the bellows (which tend to short the isolators) to explore the amplification at resonance and isolation at 10 Hz. If this looks promising, we'll add a compliant model of the support structure to see the seismic induced motion at frequencies > 10 Hz.

Interfaces:

• Issued signed RODA: M080134-00, E/ITM and BS/FM pitch frequencies and d-values
• Issued RODA for review: M080342-00, HEPI Assembly Plan Change
• See the RODA status page and the Interface Control page.

Modeling and Simulation

From: Hiroaki Yamamoto hiro@ligo.caltech.edu

aLIGO COC (Hiro, Bill)

• The requirement of the mirror surface aberration has been revisited.
• It was found that the additional requirements to improve the effective loss is meaningful only when the polishing vendor is willing to collaborate with us.
• In short, the rms is sensitive to long wavelength region (>5cm) aberration, while the loss is sensitive to short wave length region (~1cm) which can be observed only after subtracting many many lower order zernike terms.
• It is summarized in the advLIGO COC Wiki (http://ilog.ligo-wa.caltech.edu: 7285/advligo/COC_Modeling), and I am writing a LIGO note ( T080225-00-E-ABR_LOSS ) with more details.

Computing support (Melody)

• Provided user support to one of Sany's students in SELU. He has problem installing Java 1.5 (which is required for ALFI) in a Debian system.

Safety

From: David Nolting   dnolting@ligo-la.caltech.edu

• Participated in the PSL / PDR telecom meeting on Tuesday.
• Review of documents for the BS / FM review.
• Trip to LHO for the annual safety audit review.

Quality Assurance

From: Mick Flanigan flanigan_m@ligo-wa.caltech.edu

• Attended PSL PRD session and was impressed with the initial design documents. Thanks to Rick Savage for the PSL tutorial session!
• Provided some feedback on a few items of concern, particularl around calibration of test instruments, temperature and humidity testing and ensuring these parameters are consistent through test processes, and lastly potential RF interference/mitigation concerns. RF may be a non-issue, but do not see any testing to state that is the case. The RF issue will extend to all electronics components for AdLIGO as a potential source of noise, interference.
• Reviewed the Inventory Control database schema developed by Dwayne Giardina, looks very good, and looks modular to be able to add other features in the future such as defect tracking tied to inventory, and inspection reports.
• Began investigations into the calibration status of instrumentation at the sites. Some concern about the instruments we used from initial LIGO being 5+ years out of calibration cycle, and the plan is to use these for AdLIGO. QA will look at costs and effort around implementing a reasonable cal program at the sites.
• Worked with Vern and PNNL to coordinate a Hanford site radiological survey. PNNL will be providing us with a quote next week to measure for gamma, beta and alpha emissions primarily at the vertex. Purpose is to quantify the potential/probability for optics interaction with decay particles.

Facilities Modifications and Preparations

From: John Worden worden_j@ligo-wa.caltech.edu

• Safety Audit this week.
• FMP - We have received a good set of bids for the cleanroom procurement and hope to get a PO out very soon.

Seismic Isolation

From: Ken Mason kmason@ligo.mit.edu

No report.

Suspensions

From Janeen Romie and Norna Robertson
(romie_j@ligo-la.caltech.edu, nroberts@ligo.caltech.edu)

From Norna Robertson (currently working in Glasgow ) and Janeen Romie

Operations Work

HAM Suspensions for Advanced & Enhanced LIGO:

• We received clamps for testing the HLTS prototype maraging steel blades and will start that tomorrow. A worksheet for filling in blade characterization results has been drafted and sent around for comments. We will reference this to a blade characterization procedure soon. Clamps for characterizing the various maraging steel blades sent to LLO from Caltech have also been fabricated. These blades will be characterized prior to electroless nickel plating. Tomorrow afternoon, we will visit a LLO-local plating shop to discuss the proposed plating procedure and post-plate bake. Work done on coordinating an ASTM plating spec to our current draft electroless nickel plating procedure.
• Compensator plate prism bonding fixture was sent to MIT for Class B baking prior to use next week. The metal prisms were sent to MIT from Bob Taylor post clean and bake and have been received by LASTI personnel. Vac Seal will be overnighted today.

Project-Funded Activities

• Norna visited Birmingham University and RAL this week to review progress and discuss various issues including number of electronic channels, delivery schedules, reviews, training sessions.
• We worked with Project Management on the schedule issues related to the updated UK Proposed BSC Milestones sent by the UK this week. Coordinated with facilities on revision of delivery and training schedule. Provided comments to draft procurement QA guidelines.

Core Optics

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

No report.

Auxiliary Optics

From:   Michael Smith smith@ligo.caltech.edu

Work Under Project Budget

• OPTICAL LAYOUT: Luke updated the Solid Works optical layout with Mike's new coordinates. There is still the issue of ISC wanting the PR and SR mirrors to hang vertically, within  10^-3 rad. In the non-folded IFO, placing all the PR and SR mirrors at the same height causes interference of the suspensions with the HAM chamber unless the height of the suspensions can be lowered in the HAM chamber, possibly by making the ITM wedge vertical. Mike will investigate whether a vertical ITM wedge will work with the present PO beam and stray light control scheme.
• COST BOOK: Mike and Phil are updating the AOS cost book and updating the 2009 procurement plan.

Work Under Operations Budget

• SLC: Mike published the SLC conceptual design document on the AOS WIKI. Ken is still working on finding 'good' sources for mirrored baffle material with no swirl marks visible after the oxidization bake. He is waiting for information from West Coast (our oxidation vendor) on the limiting size of the tunnel through their furnace, in preparation for designing the AdvLigo baffles.
• OPTLEV: Tara analyzed the pointing requirement of the arm cavity mirrors for lock acquisition and derived a preliminary specification of approximately 1 microrad. This sets the requirement for the optical lever pointing requirement in the fiducial band < 100 mHz. Eric B. developed a servo model for controling the displacement of the arm cavity mirrors by using the optical lever signal to sense and activate on the penultimate mass of the quad pendulum suspension. The model was used to evaluate the noise caused by the optical lever in the noise band > 10Hz. His preliminary result with a broad-band servo is that the noise requirement on the optical lever signal must be < 4E-10 V/rtHz to meet the ISC noise requirement. This is four orders of magnitude lower than the recent optical lever noise value measured by Giovanni in the lab, approx 1E-6 m/rtHz; and is lower than the expected shot noise in the quad detector or thermal noise in the electronic circuit. Giovanni determined that a few centimeters of air in the beam path next to the optical lever transmitter causes a significant amount of angular pointing jitter of the laser beam.
• ETM SUS: Chris completed the design for the ETM Suspension test-prototype. The parts drawings were sent to a machine shop.
• TCS: Aidan and Virginio are completing the LHO installation this week and next. Phil is in the process of analyzing the safety margin for the PSL input vacuum window.

ELIGO

• SLC: Ken is in the process of formatting the Eligo flat AC 'manifold' baffle parts drawings for the DCC and PDM works.

Input Optics

From: David tanner@phys.ufl.edu

eLIGO Commissioning

• Vacuum window (fused silica) damage test. See mLIGO wiki. (Volker)
• PSL powered up. PMC power budget and visibility measurements. ISS RIN measurements. (Antonio)

Adv LIGO Design

• Work on parallel modulation MZ experiment. (Volker)
• Repositioned suspensions in Adv LIGO solidworks layout. (Luke)
• Developed prototype and vacuum friendly designs for segmented DKDP ring heater.  (Luke)

Adv LIGO Acquisiton

• Work on Adv LIGO modulators. (Volker)
• Bid package for Advanced LIGO fused silica blanks for IO suspended optics and RM1 and RM2 is now at UF Purchasing to formally adapt it for public release. We expect the RFQs will go out early next week. (Rodica)
• Reviewing polishing specifications for surface errors for input mode cleaner mirror substrates. (Rodica)

Prestabilized Laser

From: Peter King pking@ligo.caltech.edu

Operations

• Nothing significant to report.

Project

• The dark current noise at low frequencies for some 3mm Gtran InGaAs photodiodes was measured and found to be somewhat higher than expected (and we'd like).  More measurements of other 3mm photodiodes will be done to see if the ones already measured were just oddball results or the norm.

Control and Data Systems

From: Rolf Bork rolf@ligo.caltech.edu

Timing System

• Development work in LHO was successful. Detailed documentation is ongoing. Hardware arrived to Columbia from LHO and Bartos+Factourovich is setting up the long term tests. (Sigg, Schwinberg, Raics, Bartos, Factourovich, Marka)

DAQ

• Preparations continue for design review scheduled for Sept. 18.
• Alex has been working with Ed Maros to use the latest framecpp code to build frames. Writing raw data frames seems to be working (undergoing long term tests at LHO). As soon as Ed has fix for compressing the frame, we will try that as well.

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For additional information about this report, contact Albert Lazzarini