Einstein@Home: Difference between revisions

| caption                = The Eienstein@Home interactive screensaver

Einstein@Home was officially launched on '''February 19, 2005''' at the annual meeting of the [[wikipedia:American Physical Society|American Physical Society]], making it one of the earliest projects to run on the [[wikipedia:Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing|BOINC]] platform.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://einsteinathome.org/about|title=About Einstein@Home|publisher=Einstein@Home|accessdate=2025}}</ref> The project has grown enormously since then — as of December 2023, more than '''492,000 volunteers''' in '''226 countries''' had participated, and users regularly contribute approximately '''7.7 petaFLOPS''' of computational power — enough to rank Einstein@Home among the top supercomputers on the [[wikipedia:TOP500|TOP500]] list.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein@Home|title=Einstein@Home|encyclopedia=Wikipedia}}</ref>

[[File:Neutron star illustrated.jpg|left|thumb|250x250px|Artist's illustration of an 'isolated neutron star' -- one without associated supernova remnants, binary companions or radio pulsations.]]

Since mid-2011, Einstein@Home has also analyzed data from the [[wikipedia:Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope|Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope]]. As of December 2023, this search has uncovered '''39 previously unknown gamma-ray pulsars'''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein@Home|title=Einstein@Home|encyclopedia=Wikipedia|accessdate=2025}}</ref> The Fermi gamma-ray discoveries include the first [[wikipedia:Millisecond pulsar|millisecond pulsar]] visible only in gamma rays — a radio-quiet object that suggests an entirely new population of pulsars may exist hidden in unidentified Fermi sources.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aei.mpg.de/172466/einstein-home-discovers-first-millisecond-pulsar-visible-only-in-gamma-rays|title=Einstein@Home discovers first millisecond pulsar visible only in gamma rays|publisher=Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics|accessdate=2025}}</ref>

As of December 2023, the radio pulsar search has discovered '''55 previously unknown radio pulsars'''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein@Home|title=Einstein@Home|encyclopedia=Wikipedia|accessdate=2025}}</ref>

[[File:[email protected]|alt=Einstein@Home Screensaver|thumb|<small>Einstein@Home interactive screensaver showing some known pulsars and the [[wikipedia:Supernova|'''''Supernova''''']] that they came from</small>]]Einstein@Home draws on data from several major observatories:

Einstein@Home runs on the [[wikipedia:Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing|Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC)]] platform, originally developed at the [[wikipedia:University of California, Berkeley|University of California, Berkeley]] by David Anderson. The BOINC software is released under the [[wikipedia:GNU General Public License|GNU General Public License]] version 2.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein@Home|title=Einstein@Home|encyclopedia=Wikipedia}}</ref>

[[File:BOINC Logo custom.png|thumb|200x200px|The [[wikipedia:Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing|BOINC]] platform logo. Einstein@Home runs on BOINC, originally developed at UC Berkeley.]]

== Project team / Sponsors ==

PSR J2007+2722 is most likely a disrupted recycled pulsar with a characteristic spin-down age of approximately 404 million years. Its pulse profile is remarkably wide, with emission over almost the entire spin period — making it a scientifically interesting object for understanding neutron star physics.<ref>{{cite arxiv|url=https://arxiv.org/pdf/1303.0028|title=The Einstein@Home Search for Radio Pulsars and PSR J2007+2722 Discovery|year=2013}}</ref>

On '''26 November 2013''', Einstein@Home published the first results from its Fermi data analysis: the discovery of four young gamma-ray pulsars in data from the Fermi LAT. This opened a new search channel for the project.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein@Home|title=Einstein@Home|encyclopedia=Wikipedia}}</ref>

Einstein@Home discovered '''PSR J1913+1102''', a 27.3 ms pulsar in a 4.95-hour double neutron star binary system found in Arecibo PALFA survey data. With a total system mass of approximately 2.875 solar masses, it is among the most massive double neutron star systems known. Its relatively low eccentricity indicates an unusual formation history and provides new tests of general relativity.<ref>{{cite arxiv|url=https://arxiv.org/pdf/1608.08211|title=Einstein@Home Discovery of a Double-Neutron Star Binary in the PALFA Survey|year=2016}}</ref>

Using GPU-accelerated computing power donated by Einstein@Home volunteers, scientists discovered '''PSR J1653−0158''', a 1.97 ms gamma-ray pulsar in a remarkably compact 75-minute binary orbit. This "black widow" pulsar had been a long-suspected source within the Fermi catalog. The discovery was made possible by novel GPU search algorithms running on volunteers' graphics cards.<ref>{{cite arxiv|url=https://arxiv.org/abs/2009.01513|title=Discovery of a Gamma-ray Black Widow Pulsar by GPU-accelerated Einstein@Home|year=2020}}</ref>

[[File:Litecones.png|thumb|150x150px|Einstein@Home was a flagship project of the [[wikipedia:World Year of Physics 2005|World Year of Physics 2005]].]]

* As of December 2023, it is the '''third-most-popular active BOINC application''' by volunteer participation.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein@Home|title=Einstein@Home|encyclopedia=Wikipedia}}</ref>

* Its combined computing power (~7.7 petaFLOPS) would rank it among the top 105 supercomputers on the [[wikipedia:TOP500|TOP500]] list.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein@Home|title=Einstein@Home|encyclopedia=Wikipedia}}</ref>