Einstein@Home is a distributed computing project running on the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) software platform. It searches for unknown pulsars and gravitational waves. Distributed computing is a method of computer processing in which different parts of a program run simultaneously on two or more computers that are communicating with each other over a network. ... The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) is a distributed computing infrastructure, originally developed out of the SETI@home project, but intended to be useful to fields beyond SETI. The software is free/open source software, released under the GNU Lesser General Public License. ... Composite Optical/X-ray image of the Crab Nebula pulsar, showing surrounding nebular gases stirred by the pulsars magnetic field and radiation. ... In physics, gravitational radiation is energy that is transmitted through waves in the gravitational field of space-time, according to Albert Einsteins theory of general relativity: The Einstein field equations imply that any accelerated mass radiates energy this way, in the same way as the Maxwell equations that any...

Introduction

A BOINC distributed computing project

Einstein@Home is designed to search data collected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and GEO 600 for gravitational waves. The project was officially launched on 19 February 2005 as part of American Physical Society's contribution to the World Year of Physics 2005. ^[1] It uses the power of volunteer-driven distributed computing in solving the computationally intensive problem of analyzing a large volume of data. Such an approach was pioneered by the SETI@home project, which is designed to look for signs of extra-terrestrial life by analyzing radio wave data. Einstein@Home runs through the same software platform as SETI@home, the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC). Image File history File links BOINCManager. ... Image File history File links BOINCManager. ... The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) is a distributed computing infrastructure intended to be useful to fields beyond SETI. It is being developed by a team based at the University of California, Berkeley led by the project director of SETI@home, David Anderson. ... Distributed computing is a method of computer processing in which different parts of a program run simultaneously on two or more computers that are communicating with each other over a network. ... LIGO stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. ... Geo 600 is a gravitational wave detector located in Hannover, Germany. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... February 19 is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The American Physical Society was founded in 1899 and is the worlds second largest organization of physicists. ... The year 2005 has been named the World Year of Physics in recognition of the 100th anniversary of Albert Einsteins Miracle Year, in which he published three landmark papers, and the subsequent advances in the field of physics. ... This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... Distributed computing is a method of computer processing in which different parts of a program run simultaneously on two or more computers that are communicating with each other over a network. ... SETI@home logo SETI@home (SETI at home) is a distributed computing project using Internet-connected computers, hosted by the Space Sciences Laboratory, at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States. ... The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) is a distributed computing infrastructure, originally developed out of the SETI@home project, but intended to be useful to fields beyond SETI. The software is free/open source software, released under the GNU Lesser General Public License. ...

As of June 3, 2006, over 120,000 volunteers in 186 countries have participated in the project, making it the second most popular BOINC project. ^[2]
June 3 is the 154th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (155th in leap years), with 211 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

Scientific objectives

The Einstein@home screensaver

The Einstein@Home project searches for previously unknown pulsars, via an "all-sky pulsar search". ^[3] The results of this search are then used by the LIGO/GEO teams to search their data for gravitational waves emitted from bumps on the surface of known pulsars. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1280x994, 107 KB) A snapshot from my Einstein@home-BOINC-client. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1280x994, 107 KB) A snapshot from my Einstein@home-BOINC-client. ... A screensaver is a computer program originally designed to conserve the image quality of computer displays by blanking the screen or filling them with moving images or patterns when the computers are not in use. ... It has been suggested that Radio pulsar be merged into this article or section. ... It has been suggested that Radio pulsar be merged into this article or section. ...

Einstein@Home may result in the first confirmed direct detection of a gravitational wave if LIGO/GEO detect a distinctive sequence of signals which should result from the inwards spiral and merger of a pair of black holes. However the rate of binary inspiral and the number density and properties of pulsars have large uncertainties. In physics, a gravitational wave is a fluctuation in the curvature of spacetime which propagates as a wave, traveling outward from a moving object or system of objects. ... A black hole is an object with a gravitational field so powerful that no form of matter or radiation (including light) can escape once it is less than a certain distance from the center. ...

A successful detection of gravitational waves would constitute a significant milestone in physics, as it would be the first detection of a previously unknown astronomical object by means of gravitational radiation alone.

Data analysis

The Einstein@Home program processes data from the LIGO and GEO instruments using Fast Fourier Transforms. The resulting signals are then analyzed using a method called matched filtering. This method involves the computation of hypothetical signals that might result if there were a physically plausible source of gravitational waves in the part of the sky being examined. The measured signal is then compared to the hypothetical signal. A matching signal is a candidate for further examination by more sophisticated analysis. ^[4] A fast Fourier transform (FFT) is an efficient algorithm to compute the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and its inverse. ...

Einstein@Home analyzes data from the LIGO S3, S4 and S5 data sets, each of which represent improvements in the accuracy compared with the previous data set. Processing of the S3 data set was conducted between 22 February 2005 and 2 August 2005. Work on the S4 data set was started interlaced with the S3 calculations, and has finished in July 2006. Processing of the S5 data set, which should reach design sensitivity for the first time, began on 15 June 2006.^[5] A data set (or dataset) is a collection of data, usually presented in tabular form. ... February 22 is the 53rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 2 is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... June 15 is the 166th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (167th in leap years), with 199 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

As of November 2006, the project reports 80.5 teraflops of computational power.^[6] 67 die and about 300,000 people are affected by floods in Ethiopias Somali Region of Ogaden after the Shabelle River bursts its banks. ... ...

Optimized data analysis

Einstein@home has gained considerable attention of the world's distributed computing community when an optimized application for the S4 data set analysis was developed and released in March 2006 by project volunteer Akos Fekete, a Hungarian programmer. ^[7] Fekete improved the official S4 application and introduced SSE, 3DNow! and SSE3 optimizations into the code improving performance by up to 800%^{[citation needed]}. Fekete was recognized for his efforts and was afterwards officially involved with the Einstein@home team in the development of the new S5 application. ^[8] As of late July 2006 this new official application became widely distributed among the Einstein@home users, creating a large surge in the project's total performance and productivity, best measured by floating point speed (or FLOPS), which has increased by approximately 50% compared to non-optimized S4 application. ^[9] Distributed computing is a method of computer processing in which different parts of a program run simultaneously on two or more computers that are communicating with each other over a network. ... SSE (Streaming SIMD Extensions, originally called ISSE, Internet Streaming SIMD Extensions) is a SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) instruction set designed by Intel and introduced in 1999 in their Pentium III series processors as a reply to AMDs 3DNow! (which had debuted a year earlier). ... The first 3DNow! CPU 3DNow! is the name of a multimedia extension created by AMD for its processors, starting with the K6-2 in 1998. ... SSE3, also known by its Intel code name Prescott New Instructions (PNI), is the third iteration of the SSE instruction set for the IA-32 architecture. ... In computing, FLOPS (or flops) is an acronym meaning FLoating point Operations Per Second. ...

See also

• List of distributed computing projects

A list of distributed computing projects. ...

References

1. ^ Boyle, Alan. Software sifts through gravity's mysteries. MSNBC. Retrieved on 2006-06-03.
2. ^ BOINCstats project statistics. Retrieved on 2006-06-03.
3. ^ Einstein@Home All Sky Search. American Physical Society. Retrieved on 2006-06-03.
4. ^ Einstein@Home Data Analysis. American Physical Society. Retrieved on 2006-06-03.
5. ^ Einstein@Home news. Retrieved on 2006-06-16.
6. ^ Einstein@Home - Server Status
7. ^ Profile: akosf. Retrieved on 2006-07-01.
8. ^ Programmer speeds search for gravitational waves. New Scientist. Retrieved on 2006-07-01.
9. ^ Einstein@home Server Status. Retrieved on 2006-08-22.

MSNBC, a combination of MSN and NBC, is a 24-hour cable news channel in the United States and Canada, and a news website. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... June 3 is the 154th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (155th in leap years), with 211 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... June 3 is the 154th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (155th in leap years), with 211 days remaining. ... The American Physical Society was founded in 1899 and is the worlds second largest organization of physicists. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... June 3 is the 154th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (155th in leap years), with 211 days remaining. ... The American Physical Society was founded in 1899 and is the worlds second largest organization of physicists. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... June 3 is the 154th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (155th in leap years), with 211 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... June 16 is the 167th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (168th in leap years), with 198 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... New Scientist is a weekly international science magazine covering recent developments in science and technology for a general English-speaking audience. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... August 22 is the 234th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (235th in leap years), with 131 days remaining. ...

Further reading

Allen, Bruce (2005). Einstein@Home S3 Analysis Summary. LIGO Scientific Collaboration.

External links

• Einstein@Home Website
• Einstein@home project information
• Einstein@home project information in Chinese
• Einstein@home user statistics
• Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC)