Memorandum of Understanding LSC 2008

Group members (past and present)

• Bruce Allen
• Carsten Aulbert
• Oliver Bock
• Henning Fehrmann
• Martin Hewitson
• Bernd Machenschalk
• Chris Messenger
• Ajith Parameswaran
• Holger Pletsch
• Reinhard Prix
• Christian Röver

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Report for Aug07-Aug08

(stochastic background)

• Hosted and supported Dipongkar Talukder working on optimal radiometer analysis by combining all detectors together.

(inspiral searches)

• follow-up MCMC code for Bayesian parameter estimation (C. Röver)
• LAL/LALApps based pipeline for injecting binary black hole inspiral-merger-ring down phenomenological waveforms ( A. Parameswaran).
• Hosted and supported Sukanta Bose for a one-year visit to work on coherent follow-up analysis and analysis of one month of S5 data

(burst searches)

• Collaborating with Florida group (Sergei Klimenko, Chris Pankow) in the search for binary black holes using coherent burst search algorithms customized for BBH parameter space ( A. Parameswaran).
• Collaborated with Adam Mercer in producing burst MDCs for non-spinning binary black-hole phenomenological waveforms ( A. Parameswaran).

(computing)

• Designed and built a large cluster environment (ATLAS) for GW analysis (H. Fehrmann, B. Allen, C. Aulbert)
• Operating ATLAS cluster (~5400 cores) (H. Fehrmann, B. Allen, C. Aulbert)
• Data management for AEI/Hannover (C. Aulbert, O. Bock, H. Fehrmann)
• Preparation to stage VIRGO data for LDR system (C. Aulbert, H. Fehrmann, O. Bock)

(CW searches)

• Einstein@Home S4 postprocessing and paper (B. Allen, H. Pletsch)
• Einstein@Home S5R1 postprocessing (H. Pletsch, B. Machenschalk, O. Bock)
• Einstein@Home project maintenance (B. Allen, B. Machenschalk)
• Einstein@Home application support and improvement (B. Allen, B. Machenschalk, R. Prix, O. Bock)
• Einstein@Home development of a radio pulsar search (C. Messenger, B. Allen, H. Pletsch, R. Prix)
• Study of random template banks and relaxed lattices (C. Messenger, R. Prix, MA Papa)
• Study of flat-metric approximation for continuous-wave searches (R. Prix)
• Study of parameter-space correlations of the optimal detection statistic (H. Pletsch)
• Development of an incoherent search pipeline for Low-Mass X-Ray binaries (also used in our RXTE search) (C. Messenger, R. Prix)
• The performance of a highly sensitive search for Sco X-1 using archive RXTE X-Ray data (C. Messenger, R. Prix)
• Search for a CW signal from Cas A with Karl Wette and Ben Owen (C. Messenger, MA Papa, R. Prix)

(other)

• preparation and organization of LSC October 07 meeting (C. Aulbert, H. Fehrmann, B. Allen)
• testing and implementation of new Twiki system for CW group and other groups (O. Bock, R. Prix)
• GEO600 calibration, data collection and movement (M. Hewitson)
• R. Prix is member of the Computing Committee
• C. Messenger is member of the Review Committee for the String Burst Search

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Plans for Aug08-Aug09

(inspiral searches)

• further development of Bayesian follow-up code, extension to coherent analysis (C. Röver)
• Development of inspiral+merger+ring down waveform injection pipeline for (non-precessing) spinning black holes ( A. Parameswaran).
• IMR injection pipeline with waveforms containing higher harmonics from non-spinning black-hole binaries ( A. Parameswaran).
• Development of a template bank for the non-spinning binary black-hole phenomenological waveforms ( A. Parameswaran).

(burst searches)

• Continue collaborating with the Florida group in customising the CoherentWaveburst algorithm with spinning/higher harmonics waveform injections ( A. Parameswaran).

(hardware)

• continued operation and possibly expansion of current resources (C. Aulbert, H. Fehrmann, B. Allen)
• take over some GEO data duty from Steffen Grunewald (C. Aulbert, H. Fehrmann, M. Hewitson)

(CW searches)

• Einstein@Home S5R1 postprocessing (H. Pletsch, B. Machenschalk, O. Bock)
• Einstein@Home project maintenance (B. Allen, B. Machenschalk, O. Bock)
• Einstein@Home application support and improvement (B. Allen, B. Machenschalk, R. Prix, O. Bock)
• Einstein@Home development of a radio pulsar search (C. Messenger, B. Allen, H. Pletsch, R. Prix)
• prepare paper on random template-banks and relaxed lattices (C. Messenger, R. Prix, MA Papa)
• prepare paper on flat-metric approximation for CW searches (R. Prix)
• prepare paper on parameter-space correlations of the optimal detection statistic (H. Pletsch)
• study optimization of Hierarchical search algorithms (R. Prix)
• study detection statistic for "transient" (lasting ~few days) CW signals (R. Prix)
• Implement and develop the "sideband" search for low-mass X-Ray binaries (C. Messenger)
• Apply the RXTE Sco X-1 search to other X-Ray sources (C. Messenger, R. Prix)
• Prepare paper on the RXTE Low-mass X-Ray binary searches (C. Messenger)
• Implement an XML format for reading/writing intermediate and final CW search results, including full history trails (R. Prix, O. Bock)
• Set up and run a new Einstein@Home search on S5-data (S5R4) (B. Allen, B. Machenschalk, R. Prix. O. Bock)
• Development of a generalized Einstein@Home/BOINC workunit-generator in order to simplify setting up new BOINC projects (O. Bock, R. Prix)
• Search for a CW signal from Cas A with Karl Wette and Ben Owen (C. Messenger, MA Papa, R. Prix)

(computing)

• Operating and extension ATLAS cluster (~5400 cores) (H. Fehrmann, B. Allen, C. Aulbert)
• Data management for AEI/Hannover (C. Aulbert, O. Bock, H. Fehrmann)
• Computing support for Einstein@Home postprocessing and future searches (B. Allen, C. Aulbert, H. Fehrmann, O. Bock, B. Machenschalk)

(other)

• Improvement of DASWG development process and version control scheme (O. Bock, R. Prix)
• Maintenance and improvement of Twiki system for CW group and other groups (O. Bock, R. Prix)
• GEO600 calibration, data collection and movement (M. Hewitson)