Escape Time Characterization of Pendular Fabry-Perot

We show that an escape from the potential minimum of Fabry-Perot interferometers can be detected measuring the associated sudden change of reflectivity. We demonstrate that the loss of information that occurs retaining only the sequence of escapes, rather than the full trajectory, can be very mild and can lead to an effective method to reveal the noise intensity or the presence of a coherent signal

Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Hemiptera: Adelgidae) Management in Forest, Landscape, and Nursery Production

Hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae (Annand) (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), has caused significant damage to both eastern [Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carrière] and Carolina hemlock (Tsuga caroliniana Englemann) (Pinales: Pinaceae) since it was first reported in the eastern United States. This adelgid is particularly damaging to these hemlock species due to a lack of co-evolved plant defenses and natural enemies able to suppress hemlock woolly adelgid populations. Management of hemlock woolly adelgid relies heavily on insecticides to prevent death of vulnerable trees. Biological control programs have released natural enemies of hemlock woolly adelgid to aid in control at the landscape level. Quarantine restrictions on hemlock are in place in some regions of the United States and Canada. These quarantines impact sales and shipment of hemlock trees from nurseries as well as other hemlock products. A review of insect biology, description of life stages, damage, management options, and quarantine restrictions for hemlock woolly adelgid is presented

Apolipoprotein B gene polymorphisms in patients from Serbia with ischemic cerebrovascular disease

The plasma concentration of apoB has recently been reported to be the best lipid predictor of coronary heart disease. The possible associations of genetic markers in the apolipoprotein B gene (XbaI, EcoRI, MspI, Ins/Del, and 4311 A/G polymorphisms) were evaluated in patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease (ICVD) and controls of equivalent BMI. The odds ratio for ICVD in the X+X+ genotype was 2.22, 95% CI 1.24-3.96 (P<0.05), while that for ICVD in the Ins/Ins genotype was 2.82, 95% CI 1.57-5.06 (P<0.05). The patients had significantly higher frequency of the 4311A allele compared to the controls (P<0.01). Our results support the assumption that apoB gene polymorphisms may contribute to the extent of cerebrovascular disease risk

First narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in advanced detector data

Spinning neutron stars asymmetric with respect to their rotation axis are potential sources of continuous gravitational waves for ground-based interferometric detectors. In the case of known pulsars a fully coherent search, based on matched filtering, which uses the position and rotational parameters obtained from electromagnetic observations, can be carried out. Matched filtering maximizes the signalto- noise (SNR) ratio, but a large sensitivity loss is expected in case of even a very small mismatch between the assumed and the true signal parameters. For this reason, narrow-band analysis methods have been developed, allowing a fully coherent search for gravitational waves from known pulsars over a fraction of a hertz and several spin-down values. In this paper we describe a narrow-band search of 11 pulsars using data from Advanced LIGO’s first observing run. Although we have found several initial outliers, further studies show no significant evidence for the presence of a gravitational wave signal. Finally, we have placed upper limits on the signal strain amplitude lower than the spin-down limit for 5 of the 11 targets over the bands searched; in the case of J1813-1749 the spin-down limit has been beaten for the first time. For an additional 3 targets, the median upper limit across the search bands is below the spin-down limit. This is the most sensitive narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves carried out so far

Search for gravitational waves associated with the InterPlanetary Network short gamma ray bursts

We outline the scientific motivation behind a search for gravitational waves associated with short gamma ray bursts detected by the InterPlanetary Network (IPN) during LIGO's fifth science run and Virgo's first science run. The IPN localisation of short gamma ray bursts is limited to extended error boxes of different shapes and sizes and a search on these error boxes poses a series of challenges for data analysis. We will discuss these challenges and outline the methods to optimise the search over these error boxes.Comment: Methods paper; Proceedings for Eduardo Amaldi 9 Conference on Gravitational Waves, July 2011, Cardiff, U

Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts Detected by the Interplanetary Network

We present the results of a search for gravitational waves associated with 223 gamma ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the InterPlanetary Network (IPN) in 2005-2010 during LIGO's fifth and sixth science runs and Virgo's first, second, and third science runs. The IPN satellites provide accurate times of the bursts and sky localizations that vary significantly from degree scale to hundreds of square degrees. We search for both a well-modeled binary coalescence signal, the favored progenitor model for short GRBs, and for generic, unmodeled gravitational wave bursts. Both searches use the event time and sky localization to improve the gravitational wave search sensitivity as compared to corresponding all-time, all-sky searches. We find no evidence of a gravitational wave signal associated with any of the IPN GRBs in the sample, nor do we find evidence for a population of weak gravitational wave signals associated with the GRBs. For all IPN-detected GRBs, for which a sufficient duration of quality gravitational wave data are available, we place lower bounds on the distance to the source in accordance with an optimistic assumption of gravitational wave emission energy of 10(exp2) solar mass c(exp 2) at 150 Hz, and find a median of 13 Mpc. For the 27 short-hard GRBs we place 90% confidence exclusion distances to two source models: a binary neutron star coalescence, with a median distance of 12 Mpc, or the coalescence of a neutron star and black hole, with a median distance of 22 Mpc. Finally, we combine this search with previously published results to provide a population statement for GRB searches in first-generation LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors and a resulting examination of prospects for the advanced gravitational wave detectors

A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007

We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000