1,311 research outputs found
Data Access for LIGO on the OSG
During 2015 and 2016, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
(LIGO) conducted a three-month observing campaign. These observations delivered
the first direct detection of gravitational waves from binary black hole
mergers. To search for these signals, the LIGO Scientific Collaboration uses
the PyCBC search pipeline. To deliver science results in a timely manner, LIGO
collaborated with the Open Science Grid (OSG) to distribute the required
computation across a series of dedicated, opportunistic, and allocated
resources. To deliver the petabytes necessary for such a large-scale
computation, our team deployed a distributed data access infrastructure based
on the XRootD server suite and the CernVM File System (CVMFS). This data access
strategy grew from simply accessing remote storage to a POSIX-based interface
underpinned by distributed, secure caches across the OSG.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PEARC1
Managing Research Data in Big Science
The project which led to this report was funded by JISC in 2010--2011 as part of its 'Managing Research Data' programme, to examine the way in which Big Science data is managed, and produce any recommendations which may be appropriate. Big science data is different: it comes in large volumes, and it is shared and exploited in ways which may differ from other disciplines. This project has explored these differences using as a case-study Gravitational Wave data generated by the LSC, and has produced recommendations intended to be useful variously to JISC, the funding council (STFC) and the LSC community. In Sect. 1 we define what we mean by 'big science', describe the overall data culture there, laying stress on how it necessarily or contingently differs from other disciplines. In Sect. 2 we discuss the benefits of a formal data-preservation strategy, and the cases for open data and for well-preserved data that follow from that. This leads to our recommendations that, in essence, funders should adopt rather light-touch prescriptions regarding data preservation planning: normal data management practice, in the areas under study, corresponds to notably good practice in most other areas, so that the only change we suggest is to make this planning more formal, which makes it more easily auditable, and more amenable to constructive criticism. In Sect. 3 we briefly discuss the LIGO data management plan, and pull together whatever information is available on the estimation of digital preservation costs. The report is informed, throughout, by the OAIS reference model for an open archive
Managing Research Data: Gravitational Waves
The project which led to this report was funded by JISC in 2010ā2011 as part of its
āManaging Research Dataā programme, to examine the way in which Big Science data
is managed, and produce any recommendations which may be appropriate.
Big science data is different: it comes in large volumes, and it is shared and
exploited in ways which may differ from other disciplines. This project has explored
these differences using as a case-study Gravitational Wave data generated by the LSC,
and has produced recommendations intended to be useful variously to JISC, the funding
council (STFC) and the LSC community.
In Sect. 1 we deļ¬ne what we mean by ābig scienceā, describe the overall data
culture there, laying stress on how it necessarily or contingently differs from other
disciplines.
In Sect. 2 we discuss the beneļ¬ts of a formal data-preservation strategy, and the
cases for open data and for well-preserved data that follow from that. This leads to our
recommendations that, in essence, funders should adopt rather light-touch prescriptions
regarding data preservation planning: normal data management practice, in the areas
under study, corresponds to notably good practice in most other areas, so that the only
change we suggest is to make this planning more formal, which makes it more easily
auditable, and more amenable to constructive criticism.
In Sect. 3 we brieļ¬y discuss the LIGO data management plan, and pull together
whatever information is available on the estimation of digital preservation costs.
The report is informed, throughout, by the OAIS reference model for an open
archive. Some of the reportās ļ¬ndings and conclusions were summarised in [1].
See the document history on page 37
BOSS-LDG: A Novel Computational Framework that Brings Together Blue Waters, Open Science Grid, Shifter and the LIGO Data Grid to Accelerate Gravitational Wave Discovery
We present a novel computational framework that connects Blue Waters, the
NSF-supported, leadership-class supercomputer operated by NCSA, to the Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Data Grid via Open Science
Grid technology. To enable this computational infrastructure, we configured,
for the first time, a LIGO Data Grid Tier-1 Center that can submit
heterogeneous LIGO workflows using Open Science Grid facilities. In order to
enable a seamless connection between the LIGO Data Grid and Blue Waters via
Open Science Grid, we utilize Shifter to containerize LIGO's workflow software.
This work represents the first time Open Science Grid, Shifter, and Blue Waters
are unified to tackle a scientific problem and, in particular, it is the first
time a framework of this nature is used in the context of large scale
gravitational wave data analysis. This new framework has been used in the last
several weeks of LIGO's second discovery campaign to run the most
computationally demanding gravitational wave search workflows on Blue Waters,
and accelerate discovery in the emergent field of gravitational wave
astrophysics. We discuss the implications of this novel framework for a wider
ecosystem of Higher Performance Computing users.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures. Accepted as a Full Research Paper to the 13th
IEEE International Conference on eScienc
Medium range structural order in amorphous tantala spatially resolved with changes to atomic structure by thermal annealing
Amorphous tantala (a-Ta2O5) is an important technological material that has
wide ranging applications in electronics, optics and the biomedical industry.
It is used as the high refractive index layers in the multi-layer dielectric
mirror coatings in the latest generation of gravitational wave interferometers,
as well as other precision interferometers. One of the current limitations in
sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors is Brownian thermal noise that
arises from the tantala mirror coatings. Measurements have shown differences in
mechanical loss of the mirror coatings, which is directly related to Brownian
thermal noise, in response to thermal annealing. We utilise scanning electron
diffraction to perform Fluctuation Electron Microscopy (FEM) on Ion Beam
Sputtered (IBS) amorphous tantala coatings, definitively showing an increase in
the medium range order (MRO), as determined from the variance between the
diffraction patterns in the scan, due to thermal annealing at increasing
temperatures. Moreover, we employ Virtual Dark-Field Imaging (VDFi) to
spatially resolve the FEM signal, enabling investigation of the persistence of
the fragments responsible for the medium range order, as well as the extent of
the ordering over nm length scales, and show ordered patches larger than 5 nm
in the highest temperature annealed sample. These structural changes directly
correlate with the observed changes in mechanical loss.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure
Low scatter and ultra-low reflectivity measured in a fused silica window
We investigate the reflectivity and optical scattering characteristics at
1064\,nm of an antireflection coated fused silica window of the type being used
in the Advanced LIGO gravitational-wave detectors. Reflectivity is measured in
the ultra-low range of 5-10\,ppm (by vendor) and 14-30\,ppm (by us). Using an
angle-resolved scatterometer we measure the sample's Bidirectional Scattering
Distribution Function (BSDF) and use this to estimate its transmitted and
reflected scatter at roughly 20-40\,ppm and 1\,ppm, respectively, over the
range of angles measured. We further inspect the sample's low backscatter using
an imaging scatterometer, measuring an angle resolved BSDF below
sr for large angles (10--80 from incidence in the plane
of the beam). We use the associated images to (partially) isolate scatter from
different regions of the sample and find that scattering from the bulk fused
silica is on par with backscatter from the antireflection coated optical
surfaces. To confirm that the bulk scattering is caused by Rayleigh scattering,
we perform a separate experiment, measuring the scattering intensity versus
input polarization angle. We estimate that 0.9--1.3\,ppm of the backscatter can
be accounted for by Rayleigh scattering of the bulk fused silica. These results
indicate that modern antireflection coatings have low enough scatter to not
limit the total backscattering of thick fused silica optics.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure
The Clarens Web Service Framework for Distributed Scientific Analysis in Grid Projects
Large scientific collaborations are moving towards service oriented architecutres for implementation and deployment of globally distributed systems. Clarens is a high performance, easy to deploy Web Service framework that supports the construction of such globally distributed systems. This paper discusses some of the core functionality of Clarens that the authors believe is important for building distributed systems based on Web Services that support scientific analysis
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