DiRAC 2.5y - Networks and Data Management
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Physicists across the astronomy, nuclear and particle physics communities are focussed
on understanding how the Universe works at a very fundamental level. The distance scales
with which they work vary by 50 orders of magnitude from the smallest distances probed
by experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, deep within the atomic
nucleus, to the largest scale galaxy clusters discovered out in space. The Science challenges,
however, are linked through questions such as: How did the Universe begin and how is it evolving?
and What are the fundamental constituents and fabric of the Universe and how do they interact?
Progress requires new astronomical observations and experimental data but also
new theoretical insights. Theoretical understanding comes increasingly from large-scale
computations that allow us to confront the consequences of our theories very accurately
with the data or allow us to interrogate the data in detail to extract information that has
impact on our theories. These computations test the fastest computers that we have and
push the boundaries of technology in this sector. They also provide an excellent
environment for training students in state-of-the-art techniques for code optimisation and
data mining and visualisation.
The DiRAC2 HPC facility has been operating since 2012, providing computing resources for theoretical research
in all areas of particle physics, astronomy, cosmology and nuclear physics supported by STFC. It is a highly productive facility, generating 200-250 papers annually in international, peer-reviewed journals. However, the DiRAC facility risks becoming uncompetitive as it has remained static in terms of overall capability since 2012. The DiRAC-2.5x investment in 2017/18 mitigated the risk of hardware failures, by replacing our oldest hardware components. However, as the factor 5 oversubscription of the most recent RAC call demonstrated, the science programme in 2019/20 and beyond requires a significant uplift in DiRAC's compute capability. The main purpose of the requested funding for the DiRAC2.5y project is to provide a factor 2 increase in computing across all DiRAC services to enable the facility to remain competitive during 2019/20 in anticipation of future funding for DiRAC-3.
DiRAC2.5y builds on the success of the DiRAC HPC facility and will provide the resources needed to support cutting-edge research during 2019 in all areas of science supported by STFC. While the funding is required to remain competitive, the science programme will continue to be world-leading. Examples of the projects which will benefit from this investment include:
(i) lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) calculations of the properties of fundamental particles from first principles;
(ii) improving the potential of experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider for discovery of new physics by increasing the accuracy of theoretical predictions for rare processes involving the fundamental constituents of matter known as quarks;
(iii) simulations of the merger of pairs of black holes amnwhich generate gravitational waves such as those recently discovered by the LIGO consortium;
(iv) the most realistic simulations to date of the formation and evolution of galaxies in the Universe;
(v) the accretion of gas onto supermassive black holes, the most efficient means of extracting energy from matter and the engine which drives galaxy evolution;
(vi) new models of our own Milky Way galaxy calibrated using new data from the European Space Agency's GAIA satellite;
(vii) detailed simulations of the interior of the sun and of planetary interiors;
(viii) the formation of stars in clusters - for the first time it will be possible to follow the formation of massive stars.
on understanding how the Universe works at a very fundamental level. The distance scales
with which they work vary by 50 orders of magnitude from the smallest distances probed
by experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, deep within the atomic
nucleus, to the largest scale galaxy clusters discovered out in space. The Science challenges,
however, are linked through questions such as: How did the Universe begin and how is it evolving?
and What are the fundamental constituents and fabric of the Universe and how do they interact?
Progress requires new astronomical observations and experimental data but also
new theoretical insights. Theoretical understanding comes increasingly from large-scale
computations that allow us to confront the consequences of our theories very accurately
with the data or allow us to interrogate the data in detail to extract information that has
impact on our theories. These computations test the fastest computers that we have and
push the boundaries of technology in this sector. They also provide an excellent
environment for training students in state-of-the-art techniques for code optimisation and
data mining and visualisation.
The DiRAC2 HPC facility has been operating since 2012, providing computing resources for theoretical research
in all areas of particle physics, astronomy, cosmology and nuclear physics supported by STFC. It is a highly productive facility, generating 200-250 papers annually in international, peer-reviewed journals. However, the DiRAC facility risks becoming uncompetitive as it has remained static in terms of overall capability since 2012. The DiRAC-2.5x investment in 2017/18 mitigated the risk of hardware failures, by replacing our oldest hardware components. However, as the factor 5 oversubscription of the most recent RAC call demonstrated, the science programme in 2019/20 and beyond requires a significant uplift in DiRAC's compute capability. The main purpose of the requested funding for the DiRAC2.5y project is to provide a factor 2 increase in computing across all DiRAC services to enable the facility to remain competitive during 2019/20 in anticipation of future funding for DiRAC-3.
DiRAC2.5y builds on the success of the DiRAC HPC facility and will provide the resources needed to support cutting-edge research during 2019 in all areas of science supported by STFC. While the funding is required to remain competitive, the science programme will continue to be world-leading. Examples of the projects which will benefit from this investment include:
(i) lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) calculations of the properties of fundamental particles from first principles;
(ii) improving the potential of experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider for discovery of new physics by increasing the accuracy of theoretical predictions for rare processes involving the fundamental constituents of matter known as quarks;
(iii) simulations of the merger of pairs of black holes amnwhich generate gravitational waves such as those recently discovered by the LIGO consortium;
(iv) the most realistic simulations to date of the formation and evolution of galaxies in the Universe;
(v) the accretion of gas onto supermassive black holes, the most efficient means of extracting energy from matter and the engine which drives galaxy evolution;
(vi) new models of our own Milky Way galaxy calibrated using new data from the European Space Agency's GAIA satellite;
(vii) detailed simulations of the interior of the sun and of planetary interiors;
(viii) the formation of stars in clusters - for the first time it will be possible to follow the formation of massive stars.
Planned Impact
The anticipated impact of the DiRAC2.5y HPC facility aligns closely with the recently published UK Industrial Strategy. As such, many of our key impacts will be driven by our engagements with industry. Each service provider for DiRAC2.5y has a local industrial strategy to deliver increased levels of industrial returns over the next three years.
The "Pathways to impact" document which is attached to this proposal describes the overall industrial strategy for the DiRAC facility, including our strategic goals and key performance indicators.
The "Pathways to impact" document which is attached to this proposal describes the overall industrial strategy for the DiRAC facility, including our strategic goals and key performance indicators.
Organisations
Publications
Ceuster F
(2022)
3D Line Radiative Transfer & Synthetic Observations with Magritte
in Journal of Open Source Software
Georgy C
(2024)
3D simulations of a neon burning convective shell in a massive star
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mak M
(2024)
3D simulations of TRAPPIST-1e with varying CO2, CH4, and haze profiles
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Juodžbalis I
(2024)
A dormant overmassive black hole in the early Universe
in Nature
Berné O
(2024)
A far-ultraviolet-driven photoevaporation flow observed in a protoplanetary disk.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Theuns T
(2024)
A halo model for cosmological Lyman-limit systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wyper P
(2024)
A Model for Flux Rope Formation and Disconnection in Pseudostreamer Coronal Mass Ejections
in The Astrophysical Journal
Aslanyan V
(2024)
A New Field Line Tracer for the Study of Coronal Magnetic Topologies
in The Astrophysical Journal
Armijo J
(2024)
A new test of gravity - I. Introduction to the method
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Armijo J
(2024)
A new test of gravity - II. Application of marked correlation functions to luminous red galaxy samples
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Banfi A
(2024)
A POWHEG generator for deep inelastic scattering
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Hoy C
(2024)
A rapid multi-modal parameter estimation technique for LISA
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Welsh L
(2024)
A survey of extremely metal-poor gas at cosmic noon Evidence of elevated [O/Fe]
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Koudmani S
(2024)
A unified accretion disc model for supermassive black holes in galaxy formation simulations: method and implementation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pizzati E
(2024)
A unified model for the clustering of quasars and galaxies at z ˜ 6
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Oman K
(2024)
A warm dark matter cosmogony may yield more low-mass galaxy detections in 21-cm surveys than a cold dark matter one
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Del Debbio L
(2024)
Absorbing discretization effects with a massive renormalization scheme: The charm-quark mass
in Physical Review D
Xiao M
(2024)
Accelerated formation of ultra-massive galaxies in the first billion years
in Nature
Matteini L
(2024)
Alfvénic fluctuations in the expanding solar wind: Formation and radial evolution of spherical polarization
in Physics of Plasmas
Chadha-Day F
(2024)
ALP anarchy
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Somogyi W
(2024)
An ab initio spectroscopic model of the molecular oxygen atmospheric and infrared bands.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Ruan C
(2024)
An emulator-based halo model in modified gravity - I. The halo concentration-mass relation and density profile
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ahad S
(2024)
An environment-dependent halo mass function as a driver for the early quenching of z = 1.5 cluster galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Elsender D
(2024)
An implicit algorithm for simulating the dynamics of small dust grains with smoothed particle hydrodynamics
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bignell R
(2025)
Anisotropic excited bottomonia from a basis of smeared operators
Santos-Santos I
(2024)
Anisotropies in the spatial distribution and kinematics of dwarf galaxies in the Local Group and beyond
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Yang H
(2024)
apostle-auriga : effects of stellar feedback subgrid models on the evolution of angular momentum in disc galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sante A
(2024)
Applying machine learning to Galactic Archaeology: how well can we recover the origin of stars in Milky Way-like galaxies?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Brown S
(2024)
ARTEMIS emulator: exploring the effect of cosmology and galaxy formation physics on Milky Way-mass haloes and their satellites
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Alielden K
(2023)
ARTop: an open-source tool for measuring active region topology at the solar photosphere
in RAS Techniques and Instruments
Halim S
(2024)
Assessing the survival of carbonaceous chondrites impacting the lunar surface as a potential resource
in Planetary and Space Science
Banerjee A
(2024)
Atmospheric Retrievals Suggest the Presence of a Secondary Atmosphere and Possible Sulfur Species on L98-59 d from JWST Nirspec G395H Transmission Spectroscopy
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Drew A
(2024)
Axion string source modeling
in Physical Review D
Harrison J
(2024)
b ¯ c susceptibilities from fully relativistic lattice QCD
in Physical Review D
Harrison J
(2024)
B ? D * and B s ? D s * vector, axial-vector and tensor form factors for the full q 2 range from lattice QCD
in Physical Review D
Oestreicher A
(2024)
Backreaction in Numerical Relativity: Averaging on Newtonian gauge-like hypersurfaces in Einstein Toolkit cosmological simulations
in The Open Journal of Astrophysics
Hoy C
(2024)
bilby in space: Bayesian inference for transient gravitational-wave signals observed with LISA
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rey M
(2024)
Boosting galactic outflows with enhanced resolution
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bartlett-Tisdall S
(2024)
Bootstrapping boundary QED. Part I
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Ziampras A
(2024)
Buoyancy torques prevent low-mass planets from stalling in low-turbulence radiative discs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Carrillo A
(2024)
Can we really pick and choose? Benchmarking various selections of Gaia Enceladus/Sausage stars in observations with simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mickley J
(2025)
Center vortex evidence for a second finite-temperature QCD transition
in Physical Review D
Wilson D
(2024)
Charmonium ? c 0 and ? c 2 resonances in coupled-channel scattering from lattice QCD
in Physical Review D
Davies C
(2024)
Constraining modified gravity with weak-lensing peaks
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Coleman G
(2024)
Constraining the formation history of the TOI-1338/BEBOP-1 circumbinary planetary system
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Prathaban M
(2024)
Costless correction of chain based nested sampling parameter estimation in gravitational wave data and beyond
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dudek J
(2024)
Coupled-channel J - - meson resonances from lattice QCD
in Physical Review D
Becker G
(2024)
Damping wing absorption associated with a giant Ly a trough at z < 6: direct evidence for late-ending reionization
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Zhu Y
(2024)
Damping wing-like features in the stacked Ly a forest: Potential neutral hydrogen islands at z < 6
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
| Title | Collaboration with Atempo |
| Description | Tape to Tape data transfter between DiRAC sites. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | Proof of COncept that data could be read from Tape stores remotely via a remote file system |
| Title | Fast Network Links for Durham and Cambridge Univeristies |
| Description | The Universeities and Cambridge are now linked by a highly performant Network |
| Type Of Technology | Physical Model/Kit |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | Both HEIs are able to ingest data at a faster rate |
| Description | Member of UKRI E-Infrastructure Expert Panel 2017-2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Created 7 white papers for UKRI which detailed a Roadmap for future e-Infrastructure funding in the UK |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019 |