Shakya's thesis accepted
I am pleased and proud to report that the award of Sammanani (Shakya)
Premachandra's PhD degree was approved last week. Shakya's thesis, entitled
"Precision ephemerides of neutron star binaries to assist gravitational wave
searches: Sco X-1 & Cyg X-2" was submitted last September. Her thesis involved
extensive analyses of optical data of candidate gravitational wave sources
Scorpius X-1 and Cygnus X-2, with a view towards improving the precision of
binary orbital parameters and hence making more sensitive searches for
gravitational waves in future with
advanced-LIGO.
The system parameters she has established for the two best candidate sources
have already been utilised by the LSC's
continuous-wave group
in a mock data challenge to compare various search algorithms. These
parameters will also serve as crucial input parameters to the actual searches,
expected as soon as advanced-LIGO comes on line later this year.
Congratulations Shakya!