Senior Project Hours Log

	A	B	C	D
1	SUMMER MENTORSHIP HOURS
2	Date	Hours	What I Did	Total Hours
3	Thu 7/24/14	9 am - 7 pm (10 hours)	I first met Dr. Szilagyi at the Cahill Building and he proceeded to show me around. He introduced me to his collagues and then showed me what his work is like. He allowed me to use a Caltech Linux computer and set up my first SSH key on it. It was also my first time on a Linux too! He then introduced to me Git and VI which I would use later on. I spent the rest of the day understanding these terms so they would help me later.	10 hours
4	Sat 7/26/14	12:30 pm - 6 pm (5 hours 30 minutes)	My first official task once I learned the basics was to fix bugs on the Caltech G-Wave Waveform Catalog. This was a major task for me, but to make sure I didn't screw anything up, I was given a copy of the html of the website. This allowed me the make changes that could be seen on a test website which may be implemented in the real one. I tested around with colors and fonts,	15 hours 30 minutes
5	Mon 7/28/14	11 am - 6 pm (7 hours)	I spent this day by attempting to fix the ticket that involved: catalog cannot parse with leading zero. This meant that if you typed 0.3, it would work. However, if you typed .3 into the catalog, it wouldn't. This was what I attempted to fix. I also got my Caltech ID Card so I would be allowed to go around Caltech.	22 hours 30 minutes
6	Tue 7/29/14	10:30 am - 2 pm (3 hours 30 minutes)	Today, Dr. Szilagyi connected me to the Caltech Supercomputer Cluster which I would access for the rest of the mentorship. I set up my first test run of a binary black hole collision which was an exciting moment! The Cluster should give the results soon.	26 hours
7	Wed 7/30/14	11 am - 6 pm (7 hours)	I continued to work and/or struggle on the catalog filter ticket. The test run has not yet been completed by the Cluster. Dr. Szilagyi tells me it takes time.	33 hours
8	Fri 8/1/14	11:30 am - 6 pm (6 hours 30 minutes)	Today, I worked on the clone Caltech Website which I accessed via catalog.test.php. This allowed me to see results without jeopardizing anything. The run has finally completed!! Dr. Szilagyi tells me I should find a way to create an animation from those files.	39 hours 30 minutes
9	Mon 8/4/14	11:30 am - 6 pm (6 hours 30 minutes)	I worked on another ticket and continued to access the terminal to fix files.	46 hours
10	Wed 8/6/14	11:30 am - 6 pm (6 hours 30 minutes)	As usual, I worked on fixing bugs. However, I began researching about the G-waves themselves and learned about LIGO, LISA, and how exactly gravitational waves are formed.	52 hours 30 minutes
11	MENTORSHIP HOURS
12	Date	Hours	What I Did	Total Hours
13	Sat 9/6/14	11:30 am - 6 pm (6 hours 30 minutes)	Today, I got all the files from my first run and began to try to join them, so they could be manipulated for various means. I used the command RunSegments.	6 hours 30 minutes
14	Sat 9/13/14	2:30 pm - 6:20 pm (3 hours 50 minutes)	I learned so much today. Dr. Szilagyi graciously explained to me exactly what each variable means when we submit a run. This includes spin values and eccentricity. He explained to me how G-waves are formed and told me that LIGO can detect them. He also told me LISA is a much more sophisticated version. The most amazing part for me this day was when he showed me a model of black hole collision from a run that he made. It was incredible and inspires me to continue this work.	10 hours 20 minutes
15	Sat 9/20/14	10:30 am - 6 pm (7 hours 30 minutes)	I created my 2nd test run today, and I altered some of the variables since my 1st one was comparably basic. I finally learned how to view my animation from my run 1 files. I used Paraview to do this. I also explored Vtk files so I could export the animation.	17 hours 50 minutes
16	Sat 10/4/14	1 pm - 6 pm (5 hours)	My 2nd run has not yet finished, so I played around with Paraview so my run animation would look appealing and overall, better.	22 hours 50 minutes
17	Mon 10/18/14	11:30 am - 6 pm (6 hours 30 minutes)	I converted all my run 1 files into JPEGs and am trying to use FFmpeg to convert them into AVIs. My second run was not successful for some strange reason, so we restarted the run.	29 hours 20 minutes
18	Sat 2/14/15	12:00 pm - 5:10 pm (5 hours 10 minutes)	Today was my first day back at the mentorship in 2015. Since I was a bit rusty on our simulation procedure, I quickly had to catch up by watching several instruction videos and background inforrmation. This would be useful so that Dr. Szilagyi does not think I have forgotten everything, and lose confidence in me. After the videos, I observed Dr. Szilagyi's runs.	34 hours 30 minutes
19	Sat 2/21/15	11:40 am - 5:40 pm (6 hours)	I spent this whole day starting another run. It was some time since I have done a run and Dr. Szilagyi helped me test this by changing the mass variables and spin values. The day was spent helping Dr. Szilagyi edit some bugs in the program as well.	40 hours 30 minutes
20	Sat 3/7/15	11:30 am - 4:30 pm (5 hours)	I got the run results back from last month's trial run and it worked very fine! Dr. Szilagyi was proud of me, so I was allowed to watch the more remote scientists work on the computer cluster. He allowed me to talk and learn from these senior research fellows.	45 hours 30 minutes
21	Sat 3/21/15	11:30 am - 6 pm (6 hours 30 minutes)	Today was very exciting since after meeting the senior research fellows, they have introduced me to some people from LIGO! I mostly just said hello, since it was a conversation between LIGO and Caltech. I just happened to be there. I learned about the importance of communication today, since there were very fine details that had to be run at LIGO. LIGO used some of our run results to test.	52 hours
22	Sat 4/11/15	11:30 am - 5:30 pm (5 hours 30 minutes)	Today was the last day of my mentorship, since my mentor will be busy since finals are coming up for the Caltech students. I was able to work with him on my final test run and I managed to convert that into a animation format. I said bye and thank you to all the scientists who have helped me so far. I also got some future references and connections.	57 hours 30 minutes
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25	INDEPENDENT COMPONENT 1 HOURS
26	Date	Hours	What I Did	Total Hours
27	Sat 12/20/14	1 pm - 7:20 pm (6 hours 20 minutes)	I first learned that making a homemade interferometer was possible. I spent 6 hours this day researching the exact and proper materials required as well as the procedure of construction. I started out by making a list of what I needed, since I was going to buy my materials online. I needed: a base plate, laser pointer, 2 mirrors on adjustable mounts, 1 mirror on a fixed mount, and small diverging lens. I read this information from http://www.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/teachers_corner/lessons/interferometer_9t12.pdf	6 hours 20 minutes
28	Sun 12/21/14	2 pm - 3:10 pm (1 hour 10 minutes)	Today I ordered the materials needed to construct the inferometer from eBay and Amazon. I found it cheaper to buy the used laser and used mirror. I didn't want to spend muhc money for my independent component since I wanted to build the apparatus myself.	7 hours 30 minutes
29	Tue 12/23/14	11 am - 1:40 pm (2 hours 40 minutes)	It's incredibly near Christmas time, so I didn't want to start my construction yet, and the parts were still to arrive (holiday season delays). So, I spent the day researching and looking up videos on the procedure.	10 hours 10 minutes
30	Sat 1/10/15	10:30 am - 5:40 pm (7 hours 10 minutes)	After my winter break, I started my procedure, and I got my materials by mail. I started with cutting out the base stand made out of cardboard for support. I first taped the adjustable mirror to 1 inch from a quadrant in the circular base stand. I think mounted the mirrors in the same arrangement using sticky tape to keep them in place. Most of the time was actually putting the pieces together without them falling apart. I needed my brother's help to hold part when I taped them down.	17 hours 20 minutes
31	Sat 1/24/15	11 am - 7:25 pm (8 hours 25 minutes)	Today I sat down to finish the construction. I started by using the base I made 2 weeks ago. I mounted the laser onto the apparatus and made the laser light shine straight at the fixed mirror mount. This is so after the light passes through the mirrors, it should almost go back into the laser. Ideally, it should hit the laser next to where the laser beam originated. I finished taping all the parts to the base. Today I finally finished my creation!	25 hours 45 minutes
32	Sun 2/1/15	1 pm - 5:20 pm (4 hours 20 minutes)	The blog post is due this week, so to complete my remaning hours, I tried to test the interferometer and see what would disturb the laser. I tried by shaking the whole interferometer, and that definitely intefered with the laser pathing. Next, I tried to space out the mirrors slightly. The surprising part was that the laser was more accurate the farther it is to the mirror! This was fascinating and this helped me understand my 1st answer to my EQ.	30 hours 15 minutes
33	INDEPENDENT COMPONENT 2 HOURS
34	Date	Hours	What I Did	Total Hours
35	Sun 3/29/15	12:10 pm - 6:50 pm (6 hours 40 minutes)	I spent this day at mentorship with Dr. Szilagyi and his collagues. We were working on simulations of black holes colliding then I learned about how the waves interact. Here, I first learned about interference, both constructive and destructive. When I asked my mentor on someway I could visualize this, he recommended to me the double-slit experiment. I spent about 7 hours this day researching the exact and proper materials required as well as the procedure of construction. I started out by making a list of what I needed. I needed: the inteferometer I already had, cardstock, a laser diode, scissors, marker, and aluminum foil. After the materials, I wanted to learn more about interference. According to the Giancoli textbook, wave interference is the phenomenon that occurs when two waves meet while traveling along the same medium. The interference of waves causes the medium to take on a shape that results from the net effect of the two individual waves upon the particles of the medium. I read this information from http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/waves/Lesson-3/Interference-of-Waves	6 hours 40 minutes
36	Sat 4/4/15	2 pm - 3:10 pm (4 hour 20 minutes)	Today was the first day of spring break, but I wanted to get some work out of way. I started my project at home by getting the required materials needed to create the double-slits. I first marked the cardstock to determine where the light waves would pass through. I cut small holes into the card stock.	11 hours
37	Mon 4/6/15	11 am - 2:40 pm (3 hours 40 minutes)	It's almost Easter, so I didn't want to start my full double-slit experiment yet, So, I spent the day researching and looking up videos on the procedure. There are numerous amounts of experiments replicated. The first double slit experiments were from the 1800s!	14 hours 40 minutes
38	Thurs 4/9/15	1:30 pm - 6:45 pm (5 hours 15 minutes)	Today I continued my experiment. I left off where the cardstock slits were cut. Now, I had to carefully attach the aluminum foil. Aluminum foil allows us to cut a lot more precise and closer slits. This will create a cleaner and wider interference pattern, because the distance from the middle ( called "0. maximum") to the outer maxima ( 1. / 2. / 3. / ... / n. maximum ) increases the smaller the distance between the slits is. After this, I cut a deeper slit into the aluminum.	19 hours 55 minutes
39	Sat 4/18/15	11 am - 5:25 pm (6 hours 25 minutes)	Today I sat down to finish the construction itself. I taped the double-slit to the edge of a table and aimed with a laser beam at the double-slit. If you replicate this, I would advise you to aim with low intensity (if you can adjust it), since you don't want to look into the bright reflection of the full-power beam too long. Then I darkened the room and used a sheet of paper, cardboard or a white wall as my screen. Today I finally finished my creation!	26 hours 20 minutes
40	Sat 4/25/15	1 pm - 5:20 pm (4 hours 20 minutes)	Time is running out before this project is due, so to complete my remaining hours, I tried to test the interferometer and use it to attach to the double-slit apparatus. I ran the laser diode from the interferometer into the double-slits. I saw a remarkable pattern that demonstrated the following. What I found is that when the light particle source is still, it results in a pattern on the other side of the slits that very much resembles the shape of the slits, as I expected. This was fascinating and this helped me understand the importance of interference to all my answers to my EQ.	30 hours 40 minutes
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