Last Day at the LIGO-Virgo Meeting

Today is the last day I am at the LIGO-Virgo Meeting in CA.  While the main meeting is over, last afternoon and today is the Education and Public Outreach (EPO) retreat.  This is different from the education work I do at the LIGO Livingston Science Education Center (that is physically on-site at one of the LIGO observatories) since the EPO group seeks to serve the all of the public (not just those people geographically near the observatories) and this work is done by all of the collaboration, in this country and around the world.

One of the fun things that have been developed recently and used for education and outreach are computer games about gravity and gravitational waves!

***

SPACE TIME QUEST (created by the gwoptics group at the University of Birmingham, UK)

You are the principal investigator (PI) of an interferometric gravitational wave observatory like LIGO.  You select the location for your detector and design it to fit within the budget for your project.  At the end of the game, you turn on your detector and look for gravitational waves.  The deeper into space you can detect gravitational waves, the higher your score (and you can compare your score against others' high scores).  My first try at the game, I was able to detect gravitational waves from more than 29 Mpc (~94.5 million light years) away.

***

BLACK HOLE PONG (also created by the gwoptics group at the University of Birmingham, UK)

This is a new take on the classic game "Pong" except instead of paddles, you use black holes to gravitationally move and sling a mass into your opponent's half of the screen.  Every time the mass enters your opponent's space, you score a point.  This is currently a 2 player only game (you can't play against the computer yet) and you can even use your Xbox controllers!

***

SLINGSHOT (created by the RIT Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation)

The goal of this strategy game is to shoot your opponent's spacecraft on the opposite side of the screen.  However, there are planets in between that attract your projectile gravitationally (they warp space-time) deflecting it from a straight path (the game name of Slingshot refers to the fact that stars, planets and moons can be used as a gravitational slingshot to speed up spacecrafts or other masses - NASA used this to get the astronauts from Apollo 13 back to Earth when they were low on fuel).  The strategy is to account for these deflections and still destroy your opponent's spacecraft.  This 2 player game can be very addictive!  Download it here.

***

Talk to you next week!  (Below is a picture of me at the LIGO-Virgo Meeting taken by my friend, Cristina Torres:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

Like I mentioned in a previous post, being at the LIGO-Virgo Meeting always overlaps with my sister's birthday.  That being said:  "Happy Birthday, Brie!"

This is Brie and me at her high school graduation last May (I am much older than her [don't you dare ask how much] and no, neither one of us is adopted).

The LIGO-Virgo Meeting on Normal Days

Wow!  I can't believe the attention my last blog post got!  I was meaning to post everyday, but with the reception of the "Big Dog" post, I couldn't think of anything nearly as interesting to follow it immediately.

The rest of the LIGO-Virgo Meeting has been continuing on at its usual frenetic pace.  The meeting starts at 8:30 am and lasts until 6:30 pm (assuming we aren't running late).  Monday evening was the meeting dinner which is always nice to catch up with colleagues you don't get to see often (with more than 800 members of the collaboration spread across the country and around the globe, meetings are sometimes your only time to talk face-to-face).  On Tuesday morning I had the pleasure of organizing a Women's Breakfast for the collaboration and I believe this is the first time something like this was done (it was suggested and sponsored by the LIGO Lab Diversity Committee).  About 40 women from all levels of LIGO (student to professor, engineer to scientist) came and contributed to the discussion.  It was very informal and the conversation was productive!  I believe that this will become a regular event and I would like to move it from a breakfast event for two reasons:  First, we had a limited time to talk before the main meeting started and second, I am not a morning person!  The breakfast started at 7 am (don't you feel bad for me) and I prefer not to acknowledge that anything before that time exists :)

Today is the last day of the meeting proper.  This afternoon and tomorrow is a special EPO (Education and Public Outreach) meeting where all of us who are interested in doing outreach get together and organize our efforts.  There were also 2 days of informal meetings before the LIGO-Virgo Meeting started on Monday.  These meetings are by the individual search groups to discuss their data analysis.  There are 4 main sources of gravitational waves: continuous (long duration), inspiral (binary pairs merging into each other), stochastic (noisy background gravitational waves, perhaps the relics of the Big Bang), and burst (short duration gravitational waves from unanticipated sources or from sources that we aren't sure what to expect).  Each of the groups search the data looking for their special kind of gravitational wave and publish their search methods and results.

In closing, about 340 people attended the LIGO-Virgo Meeting and this was the view from near my seat this morning (my seat and computer is in the middle at the bottom):

The "Big Dog" in the Envelope

So, there has been a lot of excitement in the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations because we thought that we may have had a gravitational wave detection candidate from the early morning hours of 16 September 2010.  Because the potential source was localized in the vicinity of Canis Major constellation, the candidate event was informally dubbed the "Big Dog" (get it? we think we're cute).

I was especially excited since I was one of the first people to know about the event.  I mentioned in a previous blog entry that LIGO and Virgo have developed an effort to process the data that we collect rapidly so we can tell our traditional astronomy colleagues (those with actual telescopes) where to look for a potential optical signal component of the event.  I was one of about 25 scientists that were notified when a candidate event for observation was detected so that we can make sure that the event is valid before we send it out for observation.  While I wasn't the scientist on duty for this purpose at the time, I received the text message a little after 1 AM Central time (I couldn't sleep).  This was only 8 minutes after the data was collected!

It was sent out for observation and the entire collaboration began to get very excited.  This looked just like what we would expect from a neutron star-black hole binary (pair) system orbiting into each other (to make a bigger resulting black hole).  But one of the things that every scientist needs to learn is not to get overexcited and declare this to be the first direct detection of gravitational waves without making sure that this isn't a false alarm.  There are 2 ways this could be a false alarm:  1:  There is something in the environment that just so happened to make a coincident signal in all of the detectors (LIGO in Louisiana, LIGO in Washington state and Virgo in Italy) or 2:  This could be a blind injection (test).  Until we knew for sure, no one was allowed to discuss this event outside of the collaboration.  I've had to keep my lips sealed for 6 months (just like the over 800 other scientists who are in the Collaboration)!

A blind injection is a test the higher-ups in LIGO can do to make sure that the data analysis methods are doing what they need to be doing.  Basically, a very small subset of people in the collaboration (think like 2 or 3 people) inject a fake signal into the detector and this injection is not recorded anywhere like the other injections we regularly do to test things like detector calibration, etc.  The fact that a blind injection exists is sealed away (in what we metaphorically call an envelope) until all due diligence is done and the collaboration is ready to declare that the signal is a detection unless it is a blind injection (that it, we prove that it is nothing in the environment or and nothing was wrong with the detectors detectors that caused the signal).

Yesterday (14 March 2011) at the LIGO-Virgo Meeting was the big day when we opened the envelope (which turned out to be a flash drive with a PowerPoint presentation on it).  If the envelope was empty or if whatever injections were in the envelope were not the "Big Dog", then that would mean we made a detection.  The envelope was opened and, indeed, the "Big Dog" was inside and not a real gravitational wave detection.

I was not surprised - there had not been a blind injection in the run before this and everyone expected that there would be at least one.  However, there was also a big part of me that was hoping against hope that this was real.  My entire career has been dedicated to the effort of directly detecting gravitational waves and the development of gravitational wave astronomy.  If the "Big Dog" had been real, this would have been a fulfillment of the first part of my goals and the opening of the door of the second part.

Regardless, all of the effort that was put into validating the "Big Dog" up until it was revealed to be a blind injection has been a priceless exercise for the collaboration.  We even have a paper that was ready to be submitted for publication if it had been real.  Since this is something that we have never done before, we have developed skills for when we do make the first detection with Advanced LIGO. 

Below is a picture (from my seat) of the title slide in the presentation opening the envelope.  This just goes to show that even if you think that scientists are smarter than you, it all depends on how you define smrt :)

7 April 2011 - UPDATE:  Read more detail on the "Big Dog" blind injection here!

What Have I Been Up To?

It has been a long time since I've updated and I don't feel good about that!

This time of year is always very busy in the LIGO community since one of our yearly meetings always takes place during the 3rd week of March (and it has been that way for at least a decade since I ALWAYS miss my little sister's birthday).  During the weeks leading up to the meeting, there is always a rush to get final results for whatever project a person is working on done and, when the meeting takes place during or after a science run, mature results on what we did or did not see.  That is exactly what I have been doing since my last post.

Well, that and seeing the inside of more doctors' offices than I care to think about.  I've been stuck more than a few times and had the wonderful experience of being covered in electrodes for three weeks on a heart monitor.  There's nothing to get worried about but since I had my minor kidney crisis over the summer, I have been working to resolve other issues I've previously shrugged off. 

I will be attending the LIGO-Virgo Meeting this week and will try to blog on a daily basis about what goes on at meetings like this.  It really is interesting watching how a large collaboration works towards the same goal.  Let me tell you, it is no easy feat; scientists are very opinionated and we have to all work together in order to be productive.  I can think of a few instances where this was more contentious than others but as a whole the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations have some of the nicest people I've ever met in them.  And they aren't paying me to say that :)

Oh, one more thing...  I got to give a tour of the LIGO Livingston facility to a visiting scientist friend who had never been to the site before.  This gave me the opportunity to take her into some of the clean (think dancing Intel guys in those shiny suits - but ours aren't shiny) areas where assembly of the new parts for Advanced LIGO are being put together.  I rarely get to do this since I am a data analyst who spends most of her day working on a computer, but I enlisted my engineer husband to give a the grand tour.  I got a picture of us together in the clean gear (there is more that needs to be worn when you will be touching the materials, but we weren't):

Can you tell I'm smiling?

I will write more from the meeting!

On Science Posters, Three Ways...

In my last post, I mentioned that I presented a poster at a recent physics workshop.  Today, I want to tell you more about the role that posters play in science.

I believe pretty much everyone is familiar with a poster.  Most people have had one hanging in their bedroom, office, etc. at some point in their life.  Posters are used to communicate in some way, be it a motto, a feeling, etc.  In science, posters are used to educate and I feature three levels of this education here.

THE BASIC INTRIGUING POSTER

PhysicsQuest Poster

This poster is meant to get the audience thinking about the world around them and the matter that they are made up of.  The audience is broad, but this particular poster is geared to get elementary and secondary students excited about science (thereby learning the answer to this teaser - which you can do by clicking on the link below the poster).  Note that this poster is mostly composed of graphics with minimal text.  The audience is hooked quickly.

THE EDUCATION POSTER

APS Education Posters

Yes, I am not beyond shameless self-promotion!  You have seen this poster before in a previous post.  I worked with the APS to create this poster that discusses what gravitational waves are, where they come from, how we plan on detecting them and why we are interested in them.  The audience for this poster is mostly high school and college students as well as anyone who is interested enough to read through the poster.  That is a hallmark difference between this poster and the basic intriguing poster - the amount of text (which will only get worse with the professional poster).  There are eye-catching graphics on this poster, but that is not the focal point.  This poster is also delineated into clear topical sections (where there was only a single message in the basic poster).  These delineations are made clear with the use of white space, background color and text grouping. 

THE PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCE POSTER

Poster in the LIGO Document Control Center

This poster is the most intensive of the three I talk about here.  When a scientist takes a poster to a conference, the poster is meant to present their research for them in place of them giving a talk.  Most meetings will have poster sessions where the attendees roam around a room displaying posters and discuss the work with the author that is usually standing nearby.  Posters can also stand for themselves during coffee breaks and other social times during the meeting.

Note that the text on the professional poster is the feature.  Graphics are also important, since they can often communicate complex concepts more efficiently than words, but these are used in support of the text.  If they are eye-catching, all the better!  The audience for these posters is obviously other professionals, but there can still be a broad range there.  For example, a poster I prepare to present at a LIGO centered conference can safely assume that the audience is familiar with the basics of the science and familiar with our jargon.  But at meeting where there are scientists from different fields, even different fields in physics, care needs to be made to make sure that jargon isn't used (which is difficult to do when you are so used to using these specialized terms).  Also, since there is so much being communicated, these posters can become quite large in size - I have one hanging in my office right now that is 3 feet by 4 feet!

SUMMARY

What poster a scientist creates depends on the goal of the poster.  The more general the audience, the less text, more graphics and judicious use of white space is needed.  The more professional, the narrower the audience and text becomes more important.  In the end, what is really important is to consider the motivation of the audience - the more they know about the subject being presented, the longer they will be willing to stand in front of it and read it!

Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy Workshop

Sorry for the lack of posts!  I've been trying to get work done and prepare for the Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy Workshop that I have just returned from.  It was great getting to see Milwaukee (I was just sure to keep my mouth shut about being from Pittsburgh!).  This is the first meeting of a new series that brings astronomers who are interested in gravitational waves together with physicists that are interested in the astronomy that can be extracted from them (gravitational waves, that is).  When I give tours at LIGO, I often remark that there is very little difference between an astronomer and a physicist here since the goal of the research is to observe the universe in a new way.  And that statement is by-and-large true.  But the real difference between us is the detail of knowledge we know about particular things.  Meetings like this are truly working on bridging that gap.

The day before the workshop began, there was a welcome reception at the Polaris restaurant at the top of the Hyatt Regency hotel (where most everyone attending the meeting stayed).  I was thinking about blowing it off since I had been traveling all day, but was VERY glad I went since the restaurant was one of those slowly revolving ones that gave you a great view of the city.  I'd never been to one before so it was a nice surprise.  On top of that, there was wine, beer, Hors d'œuvres and good conversations with colleagues.

The next day started early with setting up the poster presentations (at larger meetings, scientific research posters are presented in place of talks - I plan a whole blog post about these posters soon!).  The poster I brought was about the human vetting of candidate gravitational wave detections for optical follow-up (I wrote about this in a previous blog post).  I was told where my poster would be displayed and when I would be giving my 1-minute "lightning talk" to advertise it.  Below is my poster on display:

The day was then filled with presentations on various topics of interest.  The major points were neutron stars, black holes, super nova, observational techniques, transient astronomy (that is where my poster on following-up on possible gravitational wave detections fit in) and tests of General Relativity.  About 160 scientists attended this meeting.  Below is a picture of about 75% of the meeting room showing a presentation in progress:

Want to know the real secret about meetings like this?...  The real progress happens during coffee breaks and meals.  This is the time that people can talk one-on-one and collaborate.  For example, at the welcome reception (that I was thinking about blowing off), I ran into a friend of mine who is working on a book about gravitational wave astronomy.  Through talking with him, I expressed interest in the book and now I will likely be giving it a proof/comment read.  Then, at the banquet (more on that below), I ran into another colleague who is working on expanding LIGO's outreach to schools by working on a program that will bring scientists into classrooms via internet conferencing (like Skype).  Since this is something I've been wanting to do for a while now, I am now working with them on this project.  (If you are a teacher, and would be interested in having me Skype with your classroom, please contact me at amber@livingligo.org.  There is also a program called "Skype in the Classroom" where you can sign up to participate collaboratively with other teachers.)

One of the things to really look forward to during the meeting is usually the conference banquet.  This time, it was at Discovery World (a science museum).  We were treated to a reception in the aquarium part of the facility followed by a very nice dinner.  There is nothing neater than to have a good drink while getting to explore a museum (and touch sting rays).  I took the picture below during dinner.  It isn't the best picture and only shows a few people, but I took it and now you get to look at it :)

When the meeting wrapped up after 3.5 very full days, I was excited by the experience but tired and ready to go home.  One of the best parts of the little down time I did have was the view from my hotel room.  I was on the 11th floor of the Hyatt Regency and had a great view of downtown Milwaukee:

On a side note: this hotel was the location where then presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt was shot while campaigning in 1912.  (The hotel was then the Gilpatrick Hotel.)  He then went on to deliver his campaign speech and mentioned more than a few times that he had been shot and that "it takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose."  The bullet entered his chest bust didn't damage his lungs since the bullet first passed through a steel eyeglass case and a 50 page draft of his speech.  Since the bullet didn't pose a threat to his health, it was determined to be more dangerous to remove it than to leave it alone - he carried that bullet in his body for the rest of his life. (You can read more about it here.)

Happy (Belated) New Year

I hope everyone has had happy holidays!  I've been away for a while, so I thought I would let you know what I've been up to.  (Below is a picture of my husband and me on a sleigh ride at Seven Springs Mountain Resort near my family's home:)

Just after the new year, I traveled back to my home and got back into my work routine.  The highest priority objective was deciding with my fellow EM follow-up (looking to see if there is anything optical in the sky where we think there may have been a gravitational wave) collaborators on who was going to present what aspect of this work at a meeting taking place at the end of the month.  I'm quite excited about this meeting (Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy Workshop [GWPAW]) since it is a new format that will bring gravitational wave physicists together with astronomers.  I then wrote up the abstract for the work that I will be presenting, circulated it to my collaborators and received approval from LIGO to submit it.  (Since even small projects in LIGO depend on the work of the larger collaboration, presentations like mine which will have the authorship of "Amber Stuver for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration" must have approval from those collaborations as a whole.)

I have also been on many conference calls with the different projects in LIGO I work on.  That is something that EVERYONE in the collaboration must do since we are so large and spread across the country and around the globe - some meetings start VERY early in the morning so that our collaborators in the east (Australia, etc.) don't have to take calls in the middle of the night.

The other pain-in-my-butt has been getting several new pieces of software installed on my personal computer so that I can better collaborate with the people who are analyzing the images taken for EM follow-up.  This software is open source (you don't have to pay for it) but you don't get it in vice packages that can be installed in several minutes.  You have to run special scripts in the command line on your computer which will download the program code, compile (make it an executable program), and install it.  I have been having troubles for the last week with obscure errors that I've had to Google to try to figure out how to fix.  FINALLY, I have a package installing on my computer as I type.  Also, it has been hard at work for at least 4 hours now!  That's not unexpected since this is a huge program.  I am just happy that it is going smoothly for me now.

Also, I have applied to go to the International Conference on Women in Physics which will be held in South Africa this year.  I got my application put together (2 essays, an abstract on my scientific research I will plan to present at the meeting and a short CV).  I applied for this meeting last time (2008) and wasn't selected, but I would love to attend this meeting of women physicists from around the world.  <Fingers Crossed>