Searching for pulsars in PALFA data from Arecibo

Bruce Allen
Bruce Allen
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Topic 194084

We are starting some limited public testing of a new pulsar search on Einstein@Home. This search uses data from the PALFA collaboration, taken at the Arecibo radio observatory. More information about this search will be released in the next few weeks; we'll use this thread (in the Science Message Board area) to provide updates when more information is available, and to answer questions.

Bugs and problems with the new application should be reported in this thread in the Bugs and Problem Reports Message Board area.

Director, Einstein@Home

ML1
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Searching for pulsars in PALFA data from Arecibo

Quote:
... This search uses data from the PALFA collaboration, taken at the Arecibo radio observatory. ...


Thanks for the advanced notice.

Is this search using radio data?

And how does it tie in with the gravitational wave searches? Or is this search something separate?

Is there any overlap with the s@h Astropulse search?

Regards,
Martin

[edit]

For a partial answer to my questions, see: ALFA Pulsar Studies

[/edit]

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Gerry Rough
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RE: Is this search using

Message 88964 in response to message 88963

Quote:

Is this search using radio data?

And how does it tie in with the gravitational wave searches? Or is this search something separate?

Is there any overlap with the s@h Astropulse search?

Yes, this will use radio data from Aricebo. There is a summary .PDF file here for more information. Scroll down to the last few pages for more direct info on the overlap with E@h. It does sound pretty interesting, actually. Good science for physics and space junkies who frequent this project

As to seti astropulse, no, there is no overlap. IIRC, the astropulse project is still looking for ET in just another way.

Seti on these boards is not a good subject to bring up: many consider it to be outside the bounds of serious scientific inquiry.


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tullio
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Without SETI there would not

Without SETI there would not have been BOINC. Even IBM has converted its World Community Grid to BOINC. Only Folding@home is standing away from BOINC, but this is not surprising given the rivalry existing between Berkeley U.and Stanford U. Although I have a degree in theoretical physics I am not ashamed to contribute a part of my processing time to SETI in both MB and Astropulse versions. You can always learn something from Berkeley.
Tullio

Richard Haselgrove
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RE: As to seti astropulse,

Message 88966 in response to message 88964

Quote:
As to seti astropulse, no, there is no overlap. IIRC, the astropulse project is still looking for ET in just another way.


UC Berkeley have prepared a technical paper on radio pulse searches, including Astropulse - intended for publication in Acta Astronautica. I hope you would take the time to at least glance at section 4 of http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_papers/berkeley_pulse_search_paper_nov_2008.pdf - you may find that there is more in common with 'serious' pulsar searches than you at first thought.

ML1
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RE: RE: As to seti

Message 88967 in response to message 88966

Quote:
Quote:
As to seti astropulse, no, there is no overlap. IIRC, the astropulse project is still looking for ET in just another way.

UC Berkeley have prepared a technical paper on radio pulse searches, including Astropulse - intended for publication in Acta Astronautica. I hope you would take the time to at least glance at section 4 of http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_papers/berkeley_pulse_search_paper_nov_2008.pdf - you may find that there is more in common with 'serious' pulsar searches than you at first thought.


I hope ancient 'rivalry' is not going to cloud the search...

What is it that e@h will be doing that is different or more comprehensive?

Keep searchin',
Martin

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ML1
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RE: ... There is a summary

Message 88968 in response to message 88964

Quote:
... There is a summary .PDF file here for more information. ...

(Last slide: ) The Pulsar Timing Array looks rather interesting for gravitational wave detection!

Keep searchin',
Martin

(As mentioned over on s@h.)

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Mike Hewson
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RE: Seti on these boards is

Message 88969 in response to message 88964

Quote:
Seti on these boards is not a good subject to bring up: many consider it to be outside the bounds of serious scientific inquiry.


I'd reckon it quite legitimate to discuss the science here despite how 'serious', or not, people think it is. I'm not aware of any negatives on the science of SETI, though perhaps some might confuse/confound the science with the social/philosophical/religious etc issues.

Of course we have SETI to thank for the whole distributed computing thrust in recent times, and there is considerable commonality with E@H in particular - needle in the haystack stuff.

I reckon it's a brilliant move to 'fold in' other targets of enquiry. It enhances the science value obtained from the volunteer base, and hopefully enthuses the crunchers too!! With fiscal issues more prominent these days, and likely science funding particularly, it looks to be a pragmatic way to achieve some hefty intellectual goals. :-)

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

Bikeman (Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein)
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Hi! AFAIK, the use of

Hi!

AFAIK, the use of pulsars as "arms" of a GW detector of monumental size is by far not the only motivation for this search. The E@H search explicitly targets pulsars in binary systems, which have been used in the past to test many predictions of general relativity.

CU
Bikeman

tullio
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Astropulse has had its

Astropulse has had its teething troubles but now it seems OK. I have restarted it on my SETI account. The paper referred to by Richard Haselgrove can be found also on the SETI home page.
Tullio

stewjack
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One thing I always like liked

One thing I always like liked about SETI was it's graphics. I believe it had a graphical representation of "fast Fourier transform" analysis of radio signals.

I wonder if your pulsar search uses fast Fourier transforms, and if the SETI screensaver is open source? hint hint

I tend to get bored by the abstract activities of crunching WU's. Intellectually I have a general understanding of what I am doing. However; I find an active graphic that provides immediate direct knowledge of the work my computer is doing - to be emotionally satisfying.

Every once in a while; watching an animated graphic that demonstrates my computer doing useful work, even if I happen to be taking a break, is a pleasant experience. I have found that I tend to stick with projects that have such graphics. However; there is always an exception, and for me it was SETI!!

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