Development of a high-capacity data analysis system for LIGO gravitational wave detection

激光干涉仪引力波天文台(LIGO)是美国国家科学基金会资助的探测引力波的项目。威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校的引力和宇宙学中心(UWM)是LIGO科学合作(LSC)的成员，并积极参与LIGO-I开发小组。威斯康星大学目前的LSC研究活动与LIGO数据的分析有关。这些活动包括开发表征和清理原始数据流的方法(消除仪器和环境异常)，以及测试从天体物理源搜索引力波的算法。这一行动为在UWM建造Beowulf计算机系统以进行与LIGO相关的数据分析和代码开发提供资金。该系统是一台由128个节点(外加5个备用)通过高速网络连接而成的并行计算机。该系统通过在线网络连接，可供LSC内的广大科学家使用，其中包括实验学家、理论家和天体物理学家。该系统旨在进行快速周转的数据探索和代码开发工作。代表性数据集(数天或数周的数据)保存在10 TB容量的磁盘上，可供快速访问。完整的系统为算法和代码开发人员提供了一个具有足够聚合CPU能力(~200 Gflop)的环境，以对LIGO数据进行广泛的探索和测试。

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is an NSF-fundedproject to detect gravitational waves. The Center for Gravitation and Cosmology at University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee (UWM) is member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), and participates actively in the LIGO-I development group. Current LSC research activities at UWM are related to the analysis of LIGO data. These activities include the development of methods to characterize and clean the raw data stream (removing instrumental and environmental anomalies), and testing of algorithms to search for gravitational waves from astrophysical sources.This action provides funds for the construction of a Beowulf-computer system at UWM for LIGO-related data analysis and code development. The proposed system is a parallel computer composed of 128 nodes (plus 5 spares) connected by high-speed networking. The system is available, through online network connections, to a broad group of scientists within the LSC, including experimentalists, theorists, and astrophysicists.The system is designed for rapid-turnaround data exploration and code development work. A representative data set (days or weeks of data) is kept on disks of 10 Terabytes capacity where it can be rapidly accessed. The complete system provides an environment with sufficient aggregate CPU power (~ 200 Gflops) for algorithm and code developers to carry out extensive exploration and testing on LIGO data.