Middleware for managing a large, heterogeneous programmable network

The links between BTexact Technologies and the Department of Computing Science at University College London are becomingincreasingly beneficial for the development of the middleware area for the management of programmable networks. This paperdescribes the work that has been done to date, and outlines the plans for future research

Requirements of a middleware for managing a large, heterogeneous programmable network

Programmable networking is an increasingly popular area of research in both industry and academia. Although most programmable network research projects seem to focus on the router architecture rather than on issues relating to the management of programmable networks, there are numerous research groups that have incorporated management middleware into the programmable network router software. However, none seem to be concerned with the effective management of a large heterogeneous programmable network. The requirements of such a middleware are outlined in this paper. There are a number of fundamental middleware principles that are addressed in this paper; these include management paradigms, configuration delivery, scalability and transactions. Security, fault tolerance and usability are also examined—although these are not essential parts of the middleware, they must be addressed if the programmable network management middleware is to be accepted by industry and adopted by other research projects

(Sort of) Testing relativity with extreme mass ratio inspirals

The inspirals of ``small'' ($1 - 100 M_\odot$) compact bodies through highly relativistic orbits of massive (several $\times 10^5 M_\odot -$ several $\times 10^6 M_\odot$) black holes are among the most anticipated sources for the LISA gravitational-wave antenna. The measurement of these waves is expected to map the spacetime of the larger body with high precision, allowing us to test in detail the hypothesis that black hole candidates are described by the Kerr metric of general relativity. In this article, we will briefly describe how these sources can be used to perform such a test. These proposed measurements are often described as ``testing relativity''. This description is at best somewhat glib: Because -- at least to date -- all work related to these measurements assumes general relativity as the theoretical framework in which these tests are performed, the measurements cannot be said to ``test relativity'' in a fundamental way. More accurately, they test the {\it nature of massive compact bodies within general relativity}. A surprising result for such a test could point to deviations from general relativity, and would provide an experimentally motivated direction in which to pursue tests of gravity theories beyond GR.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, for the Proceedings of the Sixth International LISA Symposiu

Gravitational wave astronomy and cosmology

The first direct observation of gravitational waves' action upon matter has recently been reported by the BICEP2 experiment. Advanced ground-based gravitational-wave detectors are being installed. They will soon be commissioned, and then begin searches for high-frequency gravitational waves at a sensitivity level that is widely expected to reach events involving compact objects like stellar mass black holes and neutron stars. Pulsar timing arrays continue to improve the bounds on gravitational waves at nanohertz frequencies, and may detect a signal on roughly the same timescale as ground-based detectors. The science case for space-based interferometers targeting millihertz sources is very strong. The decade of gravitational-wave discovery is poised to begin. In this writeup of a talk given at the 2013 TAUP conference, we will briefly review the physics of gravitational waves and gravitational-wave detectors, and then discuss the promise of these measurements for making cosmological measurements in the near future.Comment: 11 pages. Proceedings writeup of a talk given at the 2013 Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics (TAUP) conferenc

A brief survey of LISA sources and science

LISA is a planned space-based gravitational-wave (GW) detector that would be sensitive to waves from low-frequency sources, in the band of roughly $(0.03 - 0.1) {\rm mHz} \lesssim f \lesssim 0.1 {\rm Hz}$. This is expected to be an extremely rich chunk of the GW spectrum -- observing these waves will provide a unique view of dynamical processes in astrophysics. Here we give a quick survey of some key LISA sources and what GWs can uniquely teach us about these sources. Particularly noteworthy science which is highlighted here is the potential for LISA to track the moderate to high redshift evolution of black hole masses and spins through the measurement of GWs generated from massive black hole binaries (which in turn form by the merger of galaxies and protogalaxies). Measurement of these binary black hole waves has the potential to determine the masses and spins of the constituent black holes with percent-level accuracy or better, providing a unique high-precision probe of an aspect of early structure growth. This article is based on the ``Astrophysics Tutorial'' talk given by the author at the Sixth International LISA Symposium.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, for the Proceedings of the Sixth International LISA Symposium. Particularly silly typo in one equation fixe

Gravitational waves from inspiral into massive black holes

Space-based gravitational-wave interferometers such as LISA will be sensitive to the inspiral of stellar mass compact objects into black holes with masses in the range of roughly 10^5 solar masses to (a few) 10^7 solar masses. During the last year of inspiral, the compact body spends several hundred thousand orbits spiraling from several Schwarzschild radii to the last stable orbit. The gravitational waves emitted from these orbits probe the strong-field region of the black hole spacetime and can make possible high precision tests and measurements of the black hole's properties. Measuring such waves will require a good theoretical understanding of the waves' properties, which in turn requires a good understanding of strong-field radiation reaction and of properties of the black hole's astrophysical environment which could complicate waveform generation. In these proceedings, I review estimates of the rate at which such inspirals occur in the universe, and discuss what is being done and what must be done further in order to calculate the inspiral waveform.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the 3rd Edoardo Amaldi meetin