1,331 research outputs found
MCMC Exploration of Supermassive Black Hole Binary Inspirals
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna will be able to detect the inspiral
and merger of Super Massive Black Hole Binaries (SMBHBs) anywhere in the
Universe. Standard matched filtering techniques can be used to detect and
characterize these systems. Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods are ideally
suited to this and other LISA data analysis problems as they are able to
efficiently handle models with large dimensions. Here we compare the posterior
parameter distributions derived by an MCMC algorithm with the distributions
predicted by the Fisher information matrix. We find excellent agreement for the
extrinsic parameters, while the Fisher matrix slightly overestimates errors in
the intrinsic parameters.Comment: Submitted to CQG as a GWDAW-10 Conference Proceedings, 9 pages, 5
figures, Published Versio
Facing the LISA Data Analysis Challenge
By being the first observatory to survey the source rich low frequency region
of the gravitational wave spectrum, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
(LISA) will revolutionize our understanding of the Cosmos. For the first time
we will be able to detect the gravitational radiation from millions of galactic
binaries, the coalescence of two massive black holes, and the inspirals of
compact objects into massive black holes. The signals from multiple sources in
each class, and possibly others as well, will be simultaneously present in the
data. To achieve the enormous scientific return possible with LISA,
sophisticated data analysis techniques must be developed which can mine the
complex data in an effort to isolate and characterize individual signals. This
proceedings paper very briefly summarizes the challenges associated with
analyzing the LISA data, the current state of affairs, and the necessary next
steps to move forward in addressing the imminent challenges.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, Proceedings paper for the TeV Particle
Astrophysics II conference held Aug 28-31 at the Univ. of Wisconsi
Time-frequency analysis of extreme-mass-ratio inspiral signals in mock LISA data
Extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) of ~ 1-10 solar-mass compact objects
into ~ million solar-mass massive black holes can serve as excellent probes of
strong-field general relativity. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA)
is expected to detect gravitational wave signals from apprxomiately one hundred
EMRIs per year, but the data analysis of EMRI signals poses a unique set of
challenges due to their long duration and the extensive parameter space of
possible signals. One possible approach is to carry out a search for EMRI
tracks in the time-frequency domain. We have applied a time-frequency search to
the data from the Mock LISA Data Challenge (MLDC) with promising results. Our
analysis used the Hierarchical Algorithm for Clusters and Ridges to identify
tracks in the time-frequency spectrogram corresponding to EMRI sources. We then
estimated the EMRI source parameters from these tracks. In these proceedings,
we discuss the results of this analysis of the MLDC round 1.3 data.Comment: Amaldi-7 conference proceedings; requires jpconf style file
Extracting galactic binary signals from the first round of Mock LISA Data Challenges
We report on the performance of an end-to-end Bayesian analysis pipeline for
detecting and characterizing galactic binary signals in simulated LISA data.
Our principal analysis tool is the Blocked-Annealed Metropolis Hasting (BAM)
algorithm, which has been optimized to search for tens of thousands of
overlapping signals across the LISA band. The BAM algorithm employs Bayesian
model selection to determine the number of resolvable sources, and provides
posterior distribution functions for all the model parameters. The BAM
algorithm performed almost flawlessly on all the Round 1 Mock LISA Data
Challenge data sets, including those with many highly overlapping sources. The
only misses were later traced to a coding error that affected high frequency
sources. In addition to the BAM algorithm we also successfully tested a Genetic
Algorithm (GA), but only on data sets with isolated signals as the GA has yet
to be optimized to handle large numbers of overlapping signals.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Proceedings of GWDAW-11 (Berlin,
Dec. '06
Proteomics reveals a core molecular response of Pseudomonas putida F1 to acute chromate challenge
BACKGROUND: Pseudomonas putida is a model organism for bioremediation because of its remarkable metabolic versatility, extensive biodegradative functions, and ubiquity in contaminated soil environments. To further the understanding of molecular pathways responding to the heavy metal chromium(VI) [Cr(VI)], the proteome of aerobically grown, Cr(VI)-stressed P. putida strain F1 was characterized within the context of two disparate nutritional environments: rich (LB) media and minimal (M9L) media containing lactate as the sole carbon source. RESULTS: Growth studies demonstrated that F1 sensitivity to Cr(VI) was impacted substantially by nutrient conditions, with a carbon-source-dependent hierarchy (lactate > glucose >> acetate) observed in minimal media. Two-dimensional HPLC-MS/MS was employed to identify differential proteome profiles generated in response to 1 mM chromate under LB and M9L growth conditions. The immediate response to Cr(VI) in LB-grown cells was up-regulation of proteins involved in inorganic ion transport, secondary metabolite biosynthesis and catabolism, and amino acid metabolism. By contrast, the chromate-responsive proteome derived under defined minimal growth conditions was characterized predominantly by up-regulated proteins related to cell envelope biogenesis, inorganic ion transport, and motility. TonB-dependent siderophore receptors involved in ferric iron acquisition and amino acid adenylation domains characterized up-regulated systems under LB-Cr(VI) conditions, while DNA repair proteins and systems scavenging sulfur from alternative sources (e.g., aliphatic sulfonates) tended to predominate the up-regulated proteome profile obtained under M9L-Cr(VI) conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Comparative analysis indicated that the core molecular response to chromate, irrespective of the nutritional conditions tested, comprised seven up-regulated proteins belonging to six different functional categories including transcription, inorganic ion transport/metabolism, and amino acid transport/metabolism. These proteins might potentially serve as indicators of chromate stress in natural microbial communities
Optimal statistic for detecting gravitational wave signals from binary inspirals with LISA
A binary compact object early in its inspiral phase will be picked up by its
nearly monochromatic gravitational radiation by LISA. But even this innocuous
appearing candidate poses interesting detection challenges. The data that will
be scanned for such sources will be a set of three functions of LISA's twelve
data streams obtained through time-delay interferometry, which is necessary to
cancel the noise contributions from laser-frequency fluctuations and
optical-bench motions to these data streams. We call these three functions
pseudo-detectors. The sensitivity of any pseudo-detector to a given sky
position is a function of LISA's orbital position. Moreover, at a given point
in LISA's orbit, each pseudo-detector has a different sensitivity to the same
sky position. In this work, we obtain the optimal statistic for detecting
gravitational wave signals, such as from compact binaries early in their
inspiral stage, in LISA data. We also present how the sensitivity of LISA,
defined by this optimal statistic, varies as a function of sky position and
LISA's orbital location. Finally, we show how a real-time search for inspiral
signals can be implemented on the LISA data by constructing a bank of templates
in the sky positions.Comment: 22 pages, 15 eps figures, Latex, uses iopart style/class files. Based
on talk given at the 8th Gravitational Wave Data Analysis Workshop,
Milwaukee, USA, December 17-20, 2003. Accepted for publication in Class.
Quant. Gra
Critical Dynamics of a Vortex Loop Model for the Superconducting Transition
We calculate analytically the dynamic critical exponent measured in
Monte Carlo simulations for a vortex loop model of the superconducting
transition, and account for the simulation results. In the weak screening
limit, where magnetic fluctuations are neglected, the dynamic exponent is found
to be . In the perfect screening limit, . We relate
to the actual value of observable in experiments and find that , consistent with some experimental results
Inference on inspiral signals using LISA MLDC data
In this paper we describe a Bayesian inference framework for analysis of data
obtained by LISA. We set up a model for binary inspiral signals as defined for
the Mock LISA Data Challenge 1.2 (MLDC), and implemented a Markov chain Monte
Carlo (MCMC) algorithm to facilitate exploration and integration of the
posterior distribution over the 9-dimensional parameter space. Here we present
intermediate results showing how, using this method, information about the 9
parameters can be extracted from the data.Comment: Accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravity, GWDAW-11
special issu
A Three-Stage Search for Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in LISA Data
Gravitational waves from the inspiral and coalescence of supermassive
black-hole (SMBH) binaries with masses ~10^6 Msun are likely to be among the
strongest sources for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). We
describe a three-stage data-analysis pipeline designed to search for and
measure the parameters of SMBH binaries in LISA data. The first stage uses a
time-frequency track-search method to search for inspiral signals and provide a
coarse estimate of the black-hole masses m_1, m_2 and of the coalescence time
of the binary t_c. The second stage uses a sequence of matched-filter template
banks, seeded by the first stage, to improve the measurement accuracy of the
masses and coalescence time. Finally, a Markov Chain Monte Carlo search is used
to estimate all nine physical parameters of the binary. Using results from the
second stage substantially shortens the Markov Chain burn-in time and allows us
to determine the number of SMBH-binary signals in the data before starting
parameter estimation. We demonstrate our analysis pipeline using simulated data
from the first LISA Mock Data Challenge. We discuss our plan for improving this
pipeline and the challenges that will be faced in real LISA data analysis.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Proceedings of GWDAW-11 (Berlin,
Dec. '06
Group evaluations as self-group distancing:Ingroup typicality moderates evaluative intergroup bias in stigmatized groups
Outgroup favoritism among members of stigmatized groups can be seen as a form of self-group distancing. We examined how intergroup evaluations in stigmatized groups vary as a function of ingroup typicality. In Studies 1 and 2, Black participants (N = 125,915;N = 766) more strongly preferred light-skinned or White relative to dark-skinned or Black individuals the lighter their own skin tone. In Study 3, overweight participants (N = 147,540) more strongly preferred normal-weight relative to overweight individuals the lower their own body weight. In Study 4, participants with disabilities (N = 35,058) more strongly preferred non-disabled relative to disabled individuals the less visible they judged their own disability. Relationships between ingroup typicality and intergroup evaluations were at least partially mediated by ingroup identification (Studies 2 and 3). A meta-analysis across studies yielded an average effect size ofr= .12. Furthermore, higher ingroup typicality was related to both ingroup and outgroup evaluations. We discuss ingroup typicality as an individual constraint to self-group distancing among stigmatized group members and its relation to intergroup evaluations
- …