Welcome to the 2017 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program at LIGO Lab!
LIGO, short for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, is a network of two U.S.-based observatories in Hanford, WA and Livingston, LA. The LIGO detectors search for gravitational waves emanating from the cosmos between roughly 20 and 2000 Hz, which come from sources such as binary black hole mergers. These are the "brightest" known explosions in the universe -- except for the fact that they don't emit any light!
Three binary black hole merger signals have been observed to date:
- GW150914: Our first detection in September 2015, which caught everyone by surprise
- GW151226: Our second detection, with smaller component masses
- GW170104: Our most recent detection, from January 2017
A weak but statistically significant binary black hole signal called LVT151012 was also observed during the first observing run.
This repository contains material related to astrophysics and data analysis lectures for incoming LIGO SURF students. Below you will find instructions for access, as well as an outline of the repo's contents. Lastly, there is also a summary of helpful links provided toward the end.
To clone this repository, open a Terminal window (on Mac or Linux) and do the following:
git clone https://github.com/alurban/LIGO_SURF_2017.git
This will create a local copy on whatever computer you're running on. You will be able to retrieve this copy and work from it, but please do not push changes unless I explicitly grant you permissions. (Please email me if you would like to discuss setting up push privileges.)
Alternatively, you can open this repository in your desktop or download a ZIP-compressed version using the "clone or download" button at the top of this page. This will work from any system.
- schedule -- A folder containing the LIGO SURF program schedule and a Caltech campus map. The schedule includes orientation, lectures, and project due dates.
At Caltech:
- Caltech Library
- Caltech's Office of Student Affairs
- A list of research facilities
- Caltech Student Counseling Services
For data science and signal processing:
- A neat Python tutorial with focus on data science
- Stackoverflow, a vast font of wisdom for coding and debugging
- A collection of tutorials centered on gravitational wave signal processing
For LIGO in general:
- LIGO Laboratory
- Website for the SURF program
Pro tip: if your eyes hurt after staring at a computer screen all day, consider using software that adjusts your monitor's color filter to reflect indoor vs. outdoor and night vs. day lighting conditions, such as f.lux.
Finally, here's a video of an adorable sloth!
