Einstein@Home Project

From Unofficial BOINC Wiki

[edit] General

Einstein@Home searches through data from the LIGO gravitational wave detectors, looking for a signal from a "continuous wave" source, which would be the gravitational analog of a pulsar. In fact pulsars (ie. electromagnetic pulsars), which are thought to be spinning neutron stars, are a likely candidate for producing gravitational waves, so long as the neutron star is not symmetric (specifically, has a non-zero quadrupole moment).

While LIGO has previously conducted "directed" searches aimed at particular known pulsars, Einstein@Home is conducting an all-sky "blind" search, which means that it is searching every part of the sky and a wide range of signal parameters (primarily frequency and spin-down rate). This is a massive computational task which could not be accomplished with traditional computing resources.

Gravitational waves were predicted by Einstein in 1916, but they are expected to be very weak and have never been directly detected. LIGO seeks first to detect gravitational waves, and then to use them for astronomical observation.

Einstein@Home is currently searching the most sensitive 840 hours of data from LIGO's first science run at design sensitivity (S5R3).

[edit] More About Einstein@Home

• A Status Report On The Results of the Einstein@Home analysis of LIGO S3 Data (German Translation)
• Einstein@Home FAQ
• "Official" FAQ

[edit] Active BOINC Projects

These BOINC Powered Projects are in the production phase. They are considered reasonably stable and are doing valid science. Alpha and Beta Projects are less stable and not recommended for general Participation.

Wiki Project Page	Project Web Site	Project Goal or Comments
ABC@Home	ABC@Home Web Site	This project will try to find abc triples related to the ABC conjecture.
BBC Climate Change Experiment	BBC Climate Change Experiment Web Site	Study of transient climate change model predictions. As of 10.12.2006, this project is closed for new users. New users should join the main Climateprediction.net (CPDN) project instead.
Climateprediction.net (CPDN)	Climateprediction.net Web Site	Study of Climate Models to answer some of the important Climate Change Questions. Note: Only works with Version 5.x.x or later of the BOINC Client Software.
Seasonal Attribution Project	Seasonal Attribution Project Web Site	High resolution variant of CPDN, taking a more in depth look at certain regional areas. As of December 2007, out of work again with no current plans of a 3rd. extension.
Einstein@Home	Einstein@Home Web Site	Search for gravitational waves to reveal the presence of neutron stars (pulsars).
Leiden Classical	Leiden Classical Web Site	Desktop Computer Grid dedicated to general Classical Dynamics for any scientist or science student.
LHC@Home	LHC@Home Web Site	Model and improve the design of the CERN, LHC particle accelerator. Has work infrequently.
MalariaControl.net	MalariaControl.net Project Web Site	The MalariaControl.net project is an application that makes use of network computing for stochastic modelling of the clinical epidemiology and natural history of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Also see: Africa@Home
Predictor@Home	Predictor@Home Web Site	Investigate protein behavior. As of February 2007 is beta-testing a new application.
Rosetta@Home	Rosetta@Home Web Site	Predict and design protein structures, and protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions using the Rosetta program.
SETI@Home	SETI@Home Web Site	Look for radio evidence of extraterrestrial life.
SIMAP@Home	SIMAP@Home Web Site	Study of protein similarities. Has work infrequently, check home page for more info.
SZTAKI Desktop Grid	SZTAKI Web Site	Hungarian project. This project is exploring a mathematical domain looking for solutions to a particular problem space.
World Community Grid	World Community Grid Web Site	Runs multiple sub-projects, users can choose which project(s) to run. Note: Only works with Version 5.x.x or later of the BOINC Client Software.