Improved upper limits on the stochastic gravitational-wave background from 2009-2010 LIGO and Virgo data.

Gravitational waves from a variety of sources are predicted to superpose to create a stochastic background. This background is expected to contain unique information from throughout the history of the Universe that is unavailable through standard electromagnetic observations, making its study of fundamental importance to understanding the evolution of the Universe. We carry out a search for the stochastic background with the latest data from the LIGO and Virgo detectors.

Search for gravitational waves associated with γ-ray bursts detected by the interplanetary network.

We present the results of a search for gravitational waves associated with 223 γ-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the InterPlanetary Network (IPN) in 2005-2010 during LIGO's fifth and sixth science runs and Virgo's first, second, and third science runs. The IPN satellites provide accurate times of the bursts and sky localizations that vary significantly from degree scale to hundreds of square degrees. We search for both a well-modeled binary coalescence signal, the favored progenitor model for short GRBs, and for generic, unmodeled gravitational wave bursts.

A versatile thermoelectric temperature controller with 10 mK reproducibility and 100 mK absolute accuracy.

We describe a general-purpose thermoelectric temperature controller with 1 mK stability, 10 mK reproducibility, and 100 mK absolute accuracy near room temperature. The controller design is relatively simple and could be readily modified for use in different experimental circumstances. We also describe a time-domain numerical model that allows one to characterize the stability and transient behavior of the system being controlled, even in the presence of elements with highly nonlinear responses.

Search for gravitational-wave bursts from soft gamma repeaters.

We present a LIGO search for short-duration gravitational waves (GWs) associated with soft gamma ray repeater (SGR) bursts. This is the first search sensitive to neutron star f modes, usually considered the most efficient GW emitting modes. We find no evidence of GWs associated with any SGR burst in a sample consisting of the 27 Dec.

Upper limits on a stochastic background of gravitational waves.

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory has performed a third science run with much improved sensitivities of all three interferometers. We present an analysis of approximately 200 hours of data acquired during this run, used to search for a stochastic background of gravitational radiation. We place upper bounds on the energy density stored as gravitational radiation for three different spectral power laws.

Limits on gravitational-wave emission from selected pulsars using LIGO data.

We place direct upper limits on the amplitude of gravitational waves from 28 isolated radio pulsars by a coherent multidetector analysis of the data collected during the second science run of the LIGO interferometric detectors. These are the first direct upper limits for 26 of the 28 pulsars. We use coordinated radio observations for the first time to build radio-guided phase templates for the expected gravitational-wave signals.

Thermoelastic-damping noise from sapphire mirrors in a fundamental-noise-limited interferometer.

We report the first high-precision interferometer using large sapphire mirrors, and we present the first direct, broadband measurements of the fundamental thermal noise in these mirrors. Our results agree well with the thermoelastic-damping noise predictions of Braginsky, et al. and Cerdonio et al.

Cylindrically symmetric Green's function approach for modeling the crystal growth morphology of ice.

We describe a front-tracking Green's function approach to modeling cylindrically symmetric crystal growth. This method is simple to implement, and with little computer power can adequately model a wide range of physical situations. We apply the method to modeling the hexagonal prism growth of ice crystals, which is governed primarily by diffusion along with anisotropic surface kinetic processes.

The Solar Acoustic Spectrum and Eigenmode Parameters.

The Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) project estimates the frequencies, amplitudes, and linewidths of more than 250,000 acoustic resonances of the sun from data sets lasting 36 days. The frequency resolution of a single data set is 0.321 microhertz.

On the early history of male hysteria and psychic trauma. Charcot's influence on Freudian thought.

This paper discusses the influence of Jean-Martin Charcot's views on Sigmund Freud's early theory of hysteria and the notion of psychical trauma. We consider the early history of both psychical trauma and male hysteria, for in Charcot's view traumatic hysteria and male hysteria are identical. Freud's two 1886 lectures on male hysteria, delivered after his return from Paris, are crucial to the subject because they present Freud's first impressions of Charcot and his teaching.

Observations of Time Variation in the Sun's Rotation.

Observations of solar p-mode frequency splittings obtained at Big Bear Solar Observatory in 1986 and during 1988-90 reveal small ( approximately 1 percent) changes in the sun's subsurface angular velocity with solar cycle. An asymptotic inversion of the splitting data yields the latitude dependence of the rotation rate and shows that the largest changes in the angular velocity, approximately 4 nanohertz, occurred between 1986 and the later years, at high ( approximately 60 degrees ) solar latitudes. Earlier helioseismic observations suggest that solar cycle changes in the ratio of magnetic to turbulent pressure in the solar convection zone are large enough to account for the magnitude of the observed angular velocity variations but a detailed model of the phenomenon does not exist.

Advances in helioseismology.

Globally coherent oscillation modes were discovered in the sun about a decade ago, providing a unique seismological probe of the solar interior. Current observations detect modes that are phase-coherent for up to 1 year, with surface velocity amplitudes as low as 2 millimeters per second, and thousands of mode frequencies have been measured to accuracies as high as 1 part in 10(5). This article discusses the properties of these oscillation modes and the ways in which they are adding to our understanding of the structure and dynamics of the sun.