Data Handling and Analysis Infrastructure for Advanced LIGO and Beyond

LIGO数据网格（LDG）是一个分布式计算设施，它承载了中间件和支持人员，需要将计算机集群集合转变为引力波科学的强大数据分析引擎。LDG的开发、部署和支持由美国国家科学基金会授予的“在LIGO数据网格上实现引力波天文学”[PHY-0600953]提供。该合同为技术人员提供持续支持，他们将继续支持和维护LDG，并提供先进LIGO所需的服务、可扩展性和可靠性方面的实质性改进。该提案的主要目标是：允许LIGO科学合作组织（LSC）完成对LIGO初始观测结果的分析；提供软件基础设施和LDG服务，以支持先进LIGO及其国际合作伙伴的引力波天文学；提供将引力波天文学与更广泛的天文学界联系在一起所需的网络基础设施；并为科学界和公众提供开放访问LIGO数据的工具原型。引力波和黑洞是爱因斯坦广义相对论中最引人注目的预言之一。激光干涉仪引力波天文台（LIGO）是一个雄心勃勃的国家科学基金会资助的项目，旨在直接探测引力波并利用这些引力波探索宇宙。LIGO是全球引力波观测站网络的一部分，这些观测站准备利用引力波作为一种新的天文工具来探测黑洞、中子星、超新星和早期宇宙。先进的LIGO探测器目前正在建设中，将在大约2015年开始首次观测。首次直接探测到引力波将是21世纪物理学和天文学的分水岭事件。LSC的科学目标依赖于大量的计算基础设施，包括天体物理数据分析、探测器和分析中间件、软件可持续性和计算硬件支持。最初的LIGO已经表明，对于引力波天文学来说，网络基础设施和探测器本身一样重要。如果没有计算技术的支持，就不可能探测到引力波源，研究它们的特性，并使NSF对LIGO的投资最大化。这份开发和维护先进LIGO网络基础设施的合同将使LIGO科学合作组织为引力波观测将带来的变革性新科学做好准备。LDG研究计划将培养学生和博士后成为下一代网络基础设施的专家，推动LIGO地理分布的边界，本地可用的计算数据网格，并维持该网络基础设施的运行，以支持LIGO的科学任务。与外部合作伙伴（包括Internet2、Globus、Condor和Pegasus）的合作将对LSC之外产生重大影响。

The LIGO Data Grid (LDG) is a distributed computational facility that hosts the middleware and support personnel needed to turn a collection of computer clusters into a powerful data analysis engine for gravitational wave science. Development, deployment and support of the LDG was provided by the NSF award "Enabling gravitational-wave astronomy on the LIGO Data Grid" [PHY-0600953]. This award provides continuing support for the skilled personnel who will continue to support and maintain the LDG and deliver the substantial improvements in services, scalability and reliability needed by Advanced LIGO. The primary goals of this proposal are: to allow the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) to complete the analysis of Initial LIGO observations; to deliver the software infrastructure and LDG services to support gravitational-wave astronomy with Advanced LIGO and its international partners; to provide the cyber-infrastructure needed to bring gravitational-wave astronomy together with the broader astronomical community; and to prototype tools for open access to LIGO data for the scientific community and the public.Gravitational waves and black holes are among the most dramatic predictions of Einstein's General theory of Relativity. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) is an ambitious NSF-funded project designed to directly detect gravitational waves and to use these waves to explore the universe. LIGO forms part of a world-wide network of gravitational-wave observatories poised to probe black holes, neutron stars, supernovae and the early universe using gravitational-waves as a new astronomical tool. The Advanced LIGO detectors are currently under construction and will begin their first observations in approximately 2015. The first direct detection of gravitational waves will be a watershed event in 21st century physics and astronomy. The scientific goals of the LSC rely on a substantial computational infrastructure, which spans astrophysical data analysis, detector and analysis middleware, software sustainability and computational hardware support. Initial LIGO has shown that cyber-infrastructure is as essential to gravitational-wave astronomy as the detectors themselves. It will not be possible to detect gravitational-wave sources, to study their properties, and to maximize the NSF's investment in LIGO without support for the enabling computational technologies. This award to develop and sustain Advanced LIGO's cyber-infrastructure will allow the LIGO Scientific Collaboration to be ready for the transformative new science that gravitational-wave observations will bring. The LDG research program will train students and postdocs to be experts in next-generation cyber-infrastructure, push the boundaries of LIGO's geographically distributed, locally-available computational data grid, and sustain the operation of this cyber-infrastructure to support LIGO's science mission. Collaborations with external partners (including Internet2, Globus, Condor and Pegasus) will have significant impact outside the LSC.