Coherently combining short data segments for all-sky semi-coherent continuous gravitational wave searches

We present a method for coherently combining short data segments from gravitational-wave detectors to improve the sensitivity of semi-coherent searches for continuous gravitational waves. All-sky searches for continuous gravitational waves from unknown sources are computationally limited. The semi-coherent approach reduces the computational cost by dividing the entire observation timespan into short segments to be analyzed coherently, then combined together incoherently. Semi-coherent analyses that attempt to improve sensitivity by coherently combining data from multiple detectors face a computational challenge in accounting for uncertainties in signal parameters. In this article, we lay out a technique to meet this challenge using summed Fourier transform coefficients. Applying this technique to one all-sky search algorithm called TwoSpect, we confirm that the sensitivity of all-sky, semi-coherent searches can be improved by coherently combining the short data segments. For misaligned detectors, however, this improvement requires careful attention when marginalizing over unknown polarization parameters. In addition, care must be taken in correcting for differential detector velocity due to the Earth's rotation for high signal frequencies and widely separated detectors.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Space shuttle flight readiness firing dress rehearsal for STS-1

The static firing of the Space Shuttle Main Engine in preparation for the launch of the Enterprise Orbiter is discussed. The following were also tested: structures and mechanics; thermal design integration; propulsion and power; avionics and software; guidance, navigation, and control; mechanical systems; communications and tracking; and integrated ground systems

Efficient Estimation of Barycentered Relative Time Delays for Distant Gravitational Wave Sources

Accurate determination of gravitational wave source parameters relies on transforming between the source and detector frames. All-sky searches for continuous wave sources are computationally expensive, in part, because of barycentering transformation of time delays to a solar system frame. This expense is exacerbated by the complicated modulation induced in signal templates. We investigate approximations for determining time delays of signals received by a gravitational wave detector with respect to the solar system barycenter. A highly non-linear conventional computation is transformed into one that has a pure linear sum in its innermost loop. We discuss application of these results to determination of the maximal useful integration time of continuous wave searches

International Law in Domestic Courts: A Conflict of Laws Approach

The relationship between international law and domestic law is rarely understood as a conflict of laws. Understanding it in this way opens up a parallel with the field of conflict of laws: the field for which the relationship between legal systems, especially the role of another system\u27s jurisdiction, laws, and judgments vis-à-vis the domestic legal system, are exactly the bread-and-butter issues. We argue for such an approach to international law in domestic courts: an approach that we elaborate as theory through technique. In our view, conflicts should be seen broadly as the discipline that developed to deal with conflicts between laws, without necessarily being committed to any one method or policy. Surprisingly, we demonstrate that it is precisely the seemingly negative features of conflicts - the field\u27s high degree of technicality disparaged as a conflict-of-laws machine and the multitude of theories famously deemed a dismal swamp - that figure among the advantages of a conflict-of-laws approach to international law in domestic courts. A conflict-of-laws approach offers ways to respect the nature of international law as law, without simplifying that nature by characterizing it exactly as domestic law. In addition, seeing the parallel with conflict of laws brings a wealth of experience that can enrich and refine the debate on international law in domestic courts. Finally, the parallel with conflicts changes international law in domestic courts from a specific problem addressed by international and constitutional lawyers into a general problem of relativism - which, we argue, conflict of laws is uniquely positioned to address

International Law in Domestic Courts: A Conflict of Laws Approach

The relationship between international law and domestic law is rarely understood as a conflict of laws. Understanding it in this way opens up a parallel with the field of conflict of laws: the field for which the relationship between legal systems, especially the role of another system\u27s jurisdiction, laws, and judgments vis-à-vis the domestic legal system, are exactly the bread-and-butter issues. We argue for such an approach to international law in domestic courts: an approach that we elaborate as theory through technique. In our view, conflicts should be seen broadly as the discipline that developed to deal with conflicts between laws, without necessarily being committed to any one method or policy. Surprisingly, we demonstrate that it is precisely the seemingly negative features of conflicts - the field\u27s high degree of technicality disparaged as a conflict-of-laws machine and the multitude of theories famously deemed a dismal swamp - that figure among the advantages of a conflict-of-laws approach to international law in domestic courts. A conflict-of-laws approach offers ways to respect the nature of international law as law, without simplifying that nature by characterizing it exactly as domestic law. In addition, seeing the parallel with conflict of laws brings a wealth of experience that can enrich and refine the debate on international law in domestic courts. Finally, the parallel with conflicts changes international law in domestic courts from a specific problem addressed by international and constitutional lawyers into a general problem of relativism - which, we argue, conflict of laws is uniquely positioned to address

From Multiculturalism to Technique: Feminism, Culture and the Conflict of Laws Style

The German chancellor, the French president and the British prime minister have each grabbed world headlines with pronouncements that their state’s policy of multiculturalism has failed. As so often, domestic debates about multiculturalism, as well as foreign policy debates about human rights in non-Western countries, revolve around the treatment of women. Yet there is also a widely noted brain drain from feminism. Feminists are no longer even certain how to frame, let alone resolve, the issues raised by veiling, polygamy and other cultural practices oppressive to women by Western standards. Feminism has become perplexed by the very concept of “culture.” This impasse is detrimental both to women’s equality and to concerns for cultural autonomy. We propose shifting gears. Our approach draws on what, at first glance, would seem to be an unpromising legal paradigm for feminism – the highly technical field of conflict of laws. Using the non-intuitive hypothetical of a dispute in California between a Japanese father and daughter over a transfer of shares, we demonstrate the contribution that conflicts can make. Whereas Western feminists are often criticized for dwelling on “exotic” cultural practices to the neglect of other important issues affecting the lives of women in those communities or states, our choice of hypothetical not only joins the correctives, but also shows how economic issues, in fact, take us back to the same impasse. Even mundane issues of corporate law prove to be dizzyingly indeterminate and complex in their feminist and cultural dimensions. What makes conflict of laws a better way to recognize and do justice to the different dimensions of our hypothetical, surprisingly, is viewing conflicts as technique. More generally, conflicts can offer a new approach to the feminism/culture debate – if we treat its technicalities not as mere means to an end but as an intellectual style. Trading the big picture typical of public law for the specificity and constraints of technical form provides a promising style of capturing, revealing and ultimately taking a stand on the complexities confronting feminists as multiculturalism is challenged here and abroad

From Multiculturalism to Technique: Feminism, Culture and the Conflict of Laws Style

The German chancellor, the French president and the British prime minister have each grabbed world headlines with pronouncements that their state’s policy of multiculturalism has failed. As so often, domestic debates about multiculturalism, as well as foreign policy debates about human rights in non-Western countries, revolve around the treatment of women. Yet there is also a widely noted brain drain from feminism. Feminists are no longer even certain how to frame, let alone resolve, the issues raised by veiling, polygamy and other cultural practices oppressive to women by Western standards. Feminism has become perplexed by the very concept of “culture.” This impasse is detrimental both to women’s equality and to concerns for cultural autonomy. We propose shifting gears. Our approach draws on what, at first glance, would seem to be an unpromising legal paradigm for feminism – the highly technical field of conflict of laws. Using the non-intuitive hypothetical of a dispute in California between a Japanese father and daughter over a transfer of shares, we demonstrate the contribution that conflicts can make. Whereas Western feminists are often criticized for dwelling on “exotic” cultural practices to the neglect of other important issues affecting the lives of women in those communities or states, our choice of hypothetical not only joins the correctives, but also shows how economic issues, in fact, take us back to the same impasse. Even mundane issues of corporate law prove to be dizzyingly indeterminate and complex in their feminist and cultural dimensions. What makes conflict of laws a better way to recognize and do justice to the different dimensions of our hypothetical, surprisingly, is viewing conflicts as technique. More generally, conflicts can offer a new approach to the feminism/culture debate – if we treat its technicalities not as mere means to an end but as an intellectual style. Trading the big picture typical of public law for the specificity and constraints of technical form provides a promising style of capturing, revealing and ultimately taking a stand on the complexities confronting feminists as multiculturalism is challenged here and abroad