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gwmock

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A Python package for generating Mock Data Challenge (MDC) datasets for the gravitational-wave (GW) community. It simulates strain data for detectors like Einstein Telescope, providing a unified interface for reproducible GW data generation.

Features

  • Modular Design: Uses mixins for flexible simulator composition
  • Detector Support: Built-in support for various GW detectors with custom configuration options
  • Waveform Generation: Integrates with PyCBC and LALSuite for accurate signal simulation
  • Noise Models: Supports colored and correlated noise generation (In-Progress)
  • Population Models: Handles injection populations for signals and glitches
  • Data Formats: Outputs in standard GW formats (GWF frames)
  • CLI: Command-line tools for easy simulation workflows

Installation

We recommend using uv to manage virtual environments for installing gwmock.

If you don't have uv installed, you can install it with pip. See the project pages for more details:

  • Install via pip: pip install --upgrade pip && pip install uv
  • Project pages: uv on PyPI | uv on GitHub
  • Full documentation and usage guide: uv docs

Note: The package is built and tested against Python 3.12-3.13. When creating a virtual environment with uv, specify the Python version to ensure compatibility: uv venv --python 3.12 (replace 3.12 with your preferred version in the 3.12-3.13 range). This avoids potential issues with unsupported Python versions.

From PyPI

# Create a virtual environment (recommended with uv)
uv venv gwmock-env --python 3.12
source gwmock-env/bin/activate  # On Windows: gwmock-env\Scripts\activate
uv pip install gwmock

From Source

git clone git@github.com:Leuven-Gravity-Institute/gwmock.git
ce gwmock
# Create a virtual environment (recommended with uv)
uv venv --python 3.12
source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
uv pip install .

Quick Start

Command Line

# Generate simulated data
gwmock simulate config.yaml

Configuration

gwmock uses YAML configuration files for reproducible simulations. The primary CLI path is now the adapter-backed orchestration surface, which keeps backend selection explicit without asking users to provide internal Python class paths.

Key configuration sections:

Section Purpose
globals Shared orchestration parameters such as sampling rate, segment duration, start time, and output roots
orchestration.population Public gwmock-pop backend or loader plus its arguments and explicit event count
orchestration.signal Public gwmock-signal routing inputs, detector network, and signal output settings
orchestration.noise Public gwmock-noise adapter arguments and noise output settings

The legacy simulators.*.class configuration remains available for selected compatibility cases, but in-tree signal and noise simulator classes have been removed; noise configs must now point at public gwmock_noise.* classes, and new configs should prefer the adapter-backed orchestration flow. See examples/default_config/config.yaml and examples/signal/bbh/et_triangle_sardinia/config.yaml for concrete examples.

The first protocol-based compatibility release is intentionally scoped to the path covered by the end-to-end tests:

  • file-backed CBC population catalogues loaded through the public gwmock-pop contract,
  • transient CBC signal backends resolved by source-type through public gwmock-signal APIs,
  • stateless segment generation through the public gwmock-noise run boundary, with gwmock still owning orchestration, metadata, and output layout.

Deferred behavior is explicit rather than silent:

  • fresh simulators.*.class configs are deprecated and retained only for backwards compatibility plus metadata reproduction,
  • exact hidden-filter continuation across noise segments is still out of scope until gwmock-noise exposes a public stateful continuation protocol,
  • non-transient signal backends that do not expose generate_polarizations() are not part of the initial compatibility contract.

Documentation

Full documentation to be available at https://leuven-gravity-institute.github.io/gwmock.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create a feature branch
  3. Make your changes
  4. Add tests
  5. Submit a merge request

Release Schedule

Releases follow a fixed schedule: every Tuesday at 00:00 UTC, unless an emergent bugfix is required. This ensures predictable updates while allowing flexibility for critical issues. Users can view upcoming changes in the draft release on the GitHub Releases page.

Testing

Run the test suite:

pytest

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

For questions or issues, please open an issue on GitHub or contact the maintainers.

Documentation Shortcuts

If you are integrating external simulators, start with the Protocol Contracts page.