101 research outputs found
Soil Bacteria and Fungi Respond on Different Spatial Scales to Invasion by the Legume Lespedeza cuneata
The spatial scale on which microbial communities respond to plant invasions may provide important clues as to the nature of potential invaderâmicrobe interactions. Lespedeza cuneata (Dum. Cours.) G. Don is an invasive legume that may benefit from associations with mycorrhizal fungi; however, it has also been suggested that the plant is allelopathic and may alter the soil chemistry of invaded sites through secondary metabolites in its root exudates or litter. Thus, L. cuneata invasion may interact with soil microorganisms on a variety of scales. We investigated L. cuneata-related changes to soil bacterial and fungal communities at two spatial scales using multiple sites from across its invaded N. American range. Using whole-community DNA fingerprinting, we characterized microbial community variation at the scale of entire invaded sites and at the scale of individual plants. Based on permutational multivariate analysis of variance, soil bacterial communities in heavily invaded sites were significantly different from those of uninvaded sites, but bacteria did not show any evidence of responding at very local scales around individual plants. In contrast, soil fungi did not change significantly at the scale of entire sites, but there were significant differences between fungal communities of native versus exotic plants within particular sites. The differential scaling of bacterial and fungal responses indicates that L. cuneata interacts differently with soil bacteria and soil fungi, and these microorganisms may play very different roles in the invasion process of this plant
Setting upper limits on the strength of periodic gravitational waves from PSR J1939+2134 using the first science data from the GEO 600 and LIGO detectors
Data collected by the GEO 600 and LIGO interferometric gravitational wave detectors during their first observational science run were searched for continuous gravitational waves from the pulsar J1939+2134 at twice its rotation frequency. Two independent analysis methods were used and are demonstrated in this paper: a frequency domain method and a time domain method. Both achieve consistent null results, placing new upper limits on the strength of the pulsar's gravitational wave emission. A model emission mechanism is used to interpret the limits as a constraint on the pulsar's equatorial ellipticity
Upper limits on the strength of periodic gravitational waves from PSR J1939+2134
The first science run of the LIGO and GEO gravitational wave detectors
presented the opportunity to test methods of searching for gravitational waves
from known pulsars. Here we present new direct upper limits on the strength of
waves from the pulsar PSR J1939+2134 using two independent analysis methods,
one in the frequency domain using frequentist statistics and one in the time
domain using Bayesian inference. Both methods show that the strain amplitude at
Earth from this pulsar is less than a few times .Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the Proceedings of the 5th Edoardo
Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves, Tirrenia, Pisa, Italy, 6-11 July
200
Searching for gravitational waves from known pulsars
We present upper limits on the amplitude of gravitational waves from 28
isolated pulsars using data from the second science run of LIGO. The results
are also expressed as a constraint on the pulsars' equatorial ellipticities. We
discuss a new way of presenting such ellipticity upper limits that takes
account of the uncertainties of the pulsar moment of inertia. We also extend
our previous method to search for known pulsars in binary systems, of which
there are about 80 in the sensitive frequency range of LIGO and GEO 600.Comment: Accepted by CQG for the proceeding of GWDAW9, 7 pages, 2 figure
Improving the sensitivity to gravitational-wave sources by modifying the input-output optics of advanced interferometers
We study frequency dependent (FD) input-output schemes for signal-recycling
interferometers, the baseline design of Advanced LIGO and the current
configuration of GEO 600. Complementary to a recent proposal by Harms et al. to
use FD input squeezing and ordinary homodyne detection, we explore a scheme
which uses ordinary squeezed vacuum, but FD readout. Both schemes, which are
sub-optimal among all possible input-output schemes, provide a global noise
suppression by the power squeeze factor, while being realizable by using
detuned Fabry-Perot cavities as input/output filters. At high frequencies, the
two schemes are shown to be equivalent, while at low frequencies our scheme
gives better performance than that of Harms et al., and is nearly fully
optimal. We then study the sensitivity improvement achievable by these schemes
in Advanced LIGO era (with 30-m filter cavities and current estimates of
filter-mirror losses and thermal noise), for neutron star binary inspirals, and
for narrowband GW sources such as low-mass X-ray binaries and known radio
pulsars. Optical losses are shown to be a major obstacle for the actual
implementation of these techniques in Advanced LIGO. On time scales of
third-generation interferometers, like EURO/LIGO-III (~2012), with
kilometer-scale filter cavities, a signal-recycling interferometer with the FD
readout scheme explored in this paper can have performances comparable to
existing proposals. [abridged]Comment: Figs. 9 and 12 corrected; Appendix added for narrowband data analysi
First upper limits from LIGO on gravitational wave bursts
We report on a search for gravitational wave bursts using data from the first
science run of the LIGO detectors. Our search focuses on bursts with durations
ranging from 4 ms to 100 ms, and with significant power in the LIGO sensitivity
band of 150 to 3000 Hz. We bound the rate for such detected bursts at less than
1.6 events per day at 90% confidence level. This result is interpreted in terms
of the detection efficiency for ad hoc waveforms (Gaussians and sine-Gaussians)
as a function of their root-sum-square strain h_{rss}; typical sensitivities
lie in the range h_{rss} ~ 10^{-19} - 10^{-17} strain/rtHz, depending on
waveform. We discuss improvements in the search method that will be applied to
future science data from LIGO and other gravitational wave detectors.Comment: 21 pages, 15 figures, accepted by Phys Rev D. Fixed a few small typos
and updated a few reference
Analysis of LIGO data for gravitational waves from binary neutron stars
We report on a search for gravitational waves from coalescing compact binary
systems in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds. The analysis uses data
taken by two of the three LIGO interferometers during the first LIGO science
run and illustrates a method of setting upper limits on inspiral event rates
using interferometer data. The analysis pipeline is described with particular
attention to data selection and coincidence between the two interferometers. We
establish an observational upper limit of 1.7 \times 10^{2}M_\odot$.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure
Detector Description and Performance for the First Coincidence Observations between LIGO and GEO
For 17 days in August and September 2002, the LIGO and GEO interferometer
gravitational wave detectors were operated in coincidence to produce their
first data for scientific analysis. Although the detectors were still far from
their design sensitivity levels, the data can be used to place better upper
limits on the flux of gravitational waves incident on the earth than previous
direct measurements. This paper describes the instruments and the data in some
detail, as a companion to analysis papers based on the first data.Comment: 41 pages, 9 figures 17 Sept 03: author list amended, minor editorial
change
All-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in LIGO S4 data
We report on an all-sky search with the LIGO detectors for periodic
gravitational waves in the frequency range 50-1000 Hz and with the frequency's
time derivative in the range -1.0E-8 Hz/s to zero. Data from the fourth LIGO
science run (S4) have been used in this search. Three different semi-coherent
methods of transforming and summing strain power from Short Fourier Transforms
(SFTs) of the calibrated data have been used. The first, known as "StackSlide",
averages normalized power from each SFT. A "weighted Hough" scheme is also
developed and used, and which also allows for a multi-interferometer search.
The third method, known as "PowerFlux", is a variant of the StackSlide method
in which the power is weighted before summing. In both the weighted Hough and
PowerFlux methods, the weights are chosen according to the noise and detector
antenna-pattern to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio. The respective
advantages and disadvantages of these methods are discussed. Observing no
evidence of periodic gravitational radiation, we report upper limits; we
interpret these as limits on this radiation from isolated rotating neutron
stars. The best population-based upper limit with 95% confidence on the
gravitational-wave strain amplitude, found for simulated sources distributed
isotropically across the sky and with isotropically distributed spin-axes, is
4.28E-24 (near 140 Hz). Strict upper limits are also obtained for small patches
on the sky for best-case and worst-case inclinations of the spin axes.Comment: 39 pages, 41 figures An error was found in the computation of the C
parameter defined in equation 44 which led to its overestimate by 2^(1/4).
The correct values for the multi-interferometer, H1 and L1 analyses are 9.2,
9.7, and 9.3, respectively. Figure 32 has been updated accordingly. None of
the upper limits presented in the paper were affecte
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