Computational Methods in Multi-Messenger Astrophysics using Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos

This dissertation seeks to describe advancements made in computational methods for multi-messenger astrophysics (MMA) using gravitational waves GW and neutrinos during Advanced LIGO (aLIGO)’s first through third observing runs (O1-O3) and, looking forward, to describe novel computational techniques suited to the challenges of both the burgeoning MMA field and high-performance computing as a whole. The first two chapters provide an overview of MMA as it pertains to gravitational wave/high energy neutrino (GWHEN) searches, including a summary of expected astrophysical sources as well as GW, neutrino, and gamma-ray detectors used in their detection. These are followed in the third chapter by an in-depth discussion of LIGO’s timing system, particularly the diagnostic subsystem, describing both its role in MMA searches and the author’s contributions to the system itself. The fourth chapter provides a detailed description of the Low-Latency Algorithm for Multi-messenger Astrophysics (LLAMA), the GWHEN pipeline developed by the author and used in O2 and O3. Relevant past multi-messenger searches are described first, followed by the O2 and O3 analysis methods, the pipeline’s performance, scientific results, and finally, an in-depth account of the library’s structure and functionality. In particular, the author’s high-performance multi-order coordinates (MOC) HEALPix image analysis library, HPMOC, is described. HPMOC increases performance of HEALPix image manipulations by several orders of magnitude vs. naive single-resolution approaches while presenting a simple high-level interface and should prove useful for diverse future MMA searches. The performance improvements it provides for LLAMA are also covered. The final chapter of this dissertation builds on the approaches taken in developing HPMOC, presenting several novel methods for efficiently storing and analyzing large data sets, with applications to MMA and other data-intensive fields. A family of depth-first multi-resolution ordering of HEALPix images — DEPTH9, DEPTH19, and DEPTH40 — is defined, along with algorithms and use cases where it can improve on current approaches, including high-speed streaming calculations suitable for serverless compute or FPGAs. For performance-constrained analyses on HEALPix data (e.g. image analysis in multi-messenger search pipelines) using SIMD processors, breadth-first data structures can provide short-circuiting calculations in a data-parallel way on compressed data; a simple compression method is described with application to further improving LLAMA performance. A new storage scheme and associated algorithms for efficiently compressing and contracting tensors of varying sparsity is presented; these demuxed tensors (D-Tensors) have equivalent asymptotic time and space complexity to optimal representations of both dense and sparse matrices, and could be used as a universal drop-in replacement to reduce code complexity and developer effort while improving performance of existing non-optimized numerical code. Finally, the big bucket hash table (B-Table), a novel type of hash table making guarantees on data layout (vs. load factor), is described, along with optimizations it allows for (like hardware acceleration, online rebuilds, and hard realtime applications) that are not possible with existing hash table approaches. These innovations are presented in the hope that some will prove useful for improving future MMA searches and other data-intensive applications

The Timing System of LIGO Discoveries

LIGO's mission critical timing system has enabled gravitational wave and multi-messenger astrophysical discoveries as well as the rich science extracted. Achieving optimal detector sensitivity, detecting transient gravitational waves, and especially localizing gravitational wave sources, the underpinning of multi-messenger astrophysics, all require proper gravitational wave data time-stamping. Measurements of the relative arrival times of gravitational waves between different detectors allow for coherent gravitational wave detections, localization of gravitational wave sources, and the creation of skymaps. The carefully designed timing system achieves these goals by mitigating phase noise to avoid signal up-conversion and maximize gravitational wave detector sensitivity. The timing system also redundantly performs self-calibration and self-diagnostics in order to ensure reliable, extendable, and traceable time stamping. In this paper, we describe and quantify the performance of these core systems during the latest O3 scientific run of LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA. We present results of the diagnostic checks done to verify the time-stamping for individual gravitational wave events observed during O3 as well as the timing system performance for all of O3 in LIGO Livingston and LIGO Hanford. We find that, after 3 observing runs, the LIGO timing system continues to reliably meet mission requirements of timing precision below 1 $\mu$s with a significant safety margin.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Epstein-Barr virus: clinical and epidemiological revisits and genetic basis of oncogenesis

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is classified as a member in the order herpesvirales, family herpesviridae, subfamily gammaherpesvirinae and the genus lymphocytovirus. The virus is an exclusively human pathogen and thus also termed as human herpesvirus 4 (HHV4). It was the first oncogenic virus recognized and has been incriminated in the causation of tumors of both lymphatic and epithelial nature. It was reported in some previous studies that 95% of the population worldwide are serologically positive to the virus. Clinically, EBV primary infection is almost silent, persisting as a life-long asymptomatic latent infection in B cells although it may be responsible for a transient clinical syndrome called infectious mononucleosis. Following reactivation of the virus from latency due to immunocompromised status, EBV was found to be associated with several tumors. EBV linked to oncogenesis as detected in lymphoid tumors such as Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), Hodgkin's disease (HD), post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) and T-cell lymphomas (e.g. Peripheral T-cell lymphomas; PTCL and Anaplastic large cell lymphomas; ALCL). It is also linked to epithelial tumors such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), gastric carcinomas and oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL). In vitro, EBV many studies have demonstrated its ability to transform B cells into lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs). Despite these malignancies showing different clinical and epidemiological patterns when studied, genetic studies have suggested that these EBV- associated transformations were characterized generally by low level of virus gene expression with only the latent virus proteins (LVPs) upregulated in both tumors and LCLs. In this review, we summarize some clinical and epidemiological features of EBV- associated tumors. We also discuss how EBV latent genes may lead to oncogenesis in the different clinical malignancie

Multi-messenger searches via IceCube’s high-energy neutrinos and gravitational-wave detections of LIGO/Virgo

We summarize initial results for high-energy neutrino counterpart searches coinciding with gravitational-wave events in LIGO/Virgo\u27s GWTC-2 catalog using IceCube\u27s neutrino triggers. We did not find any statistically significant high-energy neutrino counterpart and derived upper limits on the time-integrated neutrino emission on Earth as well as the isotropic equivalent energy emitted in high-energy neutrinos for each event

In-situ estimation of ice crystal properties at the South Pole using LED calibration data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory instruments about 1 km3 of deep, glacial ice at the geographic South Pole using 5160 photomultipliers to detect Cherenkov light emitted by charged relativistic particles. A unexpected light propagation effect observed by the experiment is an anisotropic attenuation, which is aligned with the local flow direction of the ice. Birefringent light propagation has been examined as a possible explanation for this effect. The predictions of a first-principles birefringence model developed for this purpose, in particular curved light trajectories resulting from asymmetric diffusion, provide a qualitatively good match to the main features of the data. This in turn allows us to deduce ice crystal properties. Since the wavelength of the detected light is short compared to the crystal size, these crystal properties do not only include the crystal orientation fabric, but also the average crystal size and shape, as a function of depth. By adding small empirical corrections to this first-principles model, a quantitatively accurate description of the optical properties of the IceCube glacial ice is obtained. In this paper, we present the experimental signature of ice optical anisotropy observed in IceCube LED calibration data, the theory and parametrization of the birefringence effect, the fitting procedures of these parameterizations to experimental data as well as the inferred crystal properties.</p

Searching for stochastic gravitational waves using data from the two colocated LIGO Hanford detectors

Searches for a stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) using terrestrial detectors typically involve cross-correlating data from pairs of detectors. The sensitivity of such cross-correlation analyses depends, among other things, on the separation between the two detectors: the smaller the separation, the better the sensitivity. Hence, a colocated detector pair is more sensitive to a gravitational-wave background than a noncolocated detector pair. However, colocated detectors are also expected to suffer from correlated noise from instrumental and environmental effects that could contaminate the measurement of the background. Hence, methods to identify and mitigate the effects of correlated noise are necessary to achieve the potential increase in sensitivity of colocated detectors. Here we report on the first SGWB analysis using the two LIGO Hanford detectors and address the complications arising from correlated environmental noise. We apply correlated noise identification and mitigation techniques to data taken by the two LIGO Hanford detectors, H1 and H2, during LIGO’s fifth science run. At low frequencies, 40–460 Hz, we are unable to sufficiently mitigate the correlated noise to a level where we may confidently measure or bound the stochastic gravitational-wave signal. However, at high frequencies, 460–1000 Hz, these techniques are sufficient to set a 95% confidence level upper limit on the gravitational-wave energy density of Ω(f) < 7.7 × 10[superscript -4](f/900  Hz)[superscript 3], which improves on the previous upper limit by a factor of ~180. In doing so, we demonstrate techniques that will be useful for future searches using advanced detectors, where correlated noise (e.g., from global magnetic fields) may affect even widely separated detectors.National Science Foundation (U.S.)United States. National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationCarnegie TrustDavid & Lucile Packard FoundationAlfred P. Sloan Foundatio