Connecting the universe: Bringing Real Time Analysis to Particle Physics and Astronomy
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
The universe in which we live, everything we can touch, right down to the smallest components we can measure, is made
of matter. This may seem like an obvious statement, but at the beginning of the universe, we know that both matter, and its
mirror opposite antimatter were created in equal amounts. This raises the question: 'Where has all the antimatter gone?'
In order to answer this and other fundamental questions about our universe, the fields of particle physics and astronomy are building some of the largest machines in the world. The Square Kilometer Array will be one of the largest and most precise telescopes, looking up at our universe, while the Large Hadron Collider and its HL-LHC upgrade will be the largest and most precise microscope, looking down at the smallest particles. Both of these machines need to process vast amounts of data, as quickly as it is produced, deciding which parts of the data are interesting to keep and which can be ignored. This is a major challenge, needing powerful computers to make decisions faster than ever before. The proposal develops new ways for these decisions to be made and monitored at the Square Kilometer Array and the Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment, to squeeze as much useful information as possible out of these machines in the hunt for new physics that reconciles particle physics and cosmology.
of matter. This may seem like an obvious statement, but at the beginning of the universe, we know that both matter, and its
mirror opposite antimatter were created in equal amounts. This raises the question: 'Where has all the antimatter gone?'
In order to answer this and other fundamental questions about our universe, the fields of particle physics and astronomy are building some of the largest machines in the world. The Square Kilometer Array will be one of the largest and most precise telescopes, looking up at our universe, while the Large Hadron Collider and its HL-LHC upgrade will be the largest and most precise microscope, looking down at the smallest particles. Both of these machines need to process vast amounts of data, as quickly as it is produced, deciding which parts of the data are interesting to keep and which can be ignored. This is a major challenge, needing powerful computers to make decisions faster than ever before. The proposal develops new ways for these decisions to be made and monitored at the Square Kilometer Array and the Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment, to squeeze as much useful information as possible out of these machines in the hunt for new physics that reconciles particle physics and cosmology.
Planned Impact
The proposal develops real-time analysis techniques to meet challenges in data processing for particle physics and radioastronomy. The techniques and methods developed apply to several fields outside of academia including, but not limited to: medical sensing, the internet of things and connected home technologies, self-driving cars and networked vehicles, and industrial monitoring and automation.
The proposal will generate impact by specifically developing the tools and techniques in an infrastructure-independent fashion. The resulting research will be disseminated through regular seminars and industy partnerships.
The proposal will generate impact by specifically developing the tools and techniques in an infrastructure-independent fashion. The resulting research will be disseminated through regular seminars and industy partnerships.
Publications
Aaij R
(2021)
First Observation of the Decay B_{s}^{0}?K^{-}µ^{+}?_{µ} and a Measurement of |V_{ub}|/|V_{cb}|.
in Physical review letters
Aaij R
(2019)
A comprehensive real-time analysis model at the LHCb experiment
in Journal of Instrumentation
Aaij R
(2019)
Design and performance of the LHCb trigger and full real-time reconstruction in Run 2 of the LHC
in Journal of Instrumentation
Aaij R
(2020)
Measurement of CP-Averaged Observables in the B^{0}?K^{*0}µ^{+}µ^{-} Decay.
in Physical review letters
Aaij R
(2020)
Measurement of the shape of the $$ {B}_s^0\to {D}_s^{\ast -}{\mu}^{+}{\nu}_{\mu } $$ differential decay rate
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aaij R
(2021)
A Comparison of CPU and GPU Implementations for the LHCb Experiment Run 3 Trigger
in Computing and Software for Big Science
| Description | The LHCb experiment's Real-Time Analysis system uses a disk buffer system to store LHC collisions between successive processing steps. The global cost of the processing and buffering of data must be optimised to maximise the physics output of the LHCb trigger. Conversely, failure to provision sufficient disk can lead to the buffer overfilling, resulting in a loss of data and decreased physics performance. One of the first significant results of the fellowship has been to simulate the disk buffer usage during an average LHC data taking period, and determine the optimal balance between disk and CPU for the LHCb upgrade. The second significant result is the use of this simulation to determine a cost-benefit analysis between CPU- and GPU- based systems with a disk buffer. The disk buffer simulation has been further improved by an MSc student under my supervision, and is currently being prepared for deployment in the LHCb Real-Time trigger. |
| Exploitation Route | The disk buffer simulation is directly applicable to provisioning of decentralised battery storage systems for use in future 'smart' grid technologies, in which instead of optimising decentralised disk storage, in-home and electric vehicle battery storage systems can be optimised to charge from and supply to the national grid, permitting more efficient power generation. As part of the Foundation Future Leaders Program enabled by my UKRI FLF, I have discussed the potential use of the simulation code developed for such a use case with other attendees at a recent Foundation for Science and Technology event titled 'meeting the battery challenge'. |
| Sectors | Energy |
| URL | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41781-021-00070-2 |
| Description | Citation in the European Strategy update Physics briefing book |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | http://europeanstrategyupdate.web.cern.ch/ |
| Description | Invited Expert input to the 2021 STFC PPAP roadmap |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://stfc.ukri.org/files/ppap-2021-roadmap-final/ |
| Description | ST/V002562/1 STFC Swift-HEP PPRP project |
| Amount | £1,500,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/V002562/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2021 |
| End | 04/2024 |
| Description | CERN Open days 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The CERN Open Days 2019 event attracted 75000 visitors over a period of 2 days. I worked both days as a trained guide to show several hundred members of the general public from several countries, including the UK, the LHCb experiment and talk about my research. The response from visitors was extremely positive, with several interesting discussions taking place on the several-minute long elevator trip below the surface to the LHCb experiment cavern. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://opendays.cern/ |
| Description | European Researchers' Night |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The European Researchers' Night is a Europe-wide public event that brings researchers closer to the public. The European Researchers' Night showcases the diversity of science and its impact on citizens' daily lives, stimulating interest in research careers - particularly among young people. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Interview for national magazine |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I hosted a tour for Observer magazine journalist Emma Cook, and her son, who is preparing for A-levels. The tour resulted in an Observer magazine travel article, and Emma's son specified an interest in studying Physics at university. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/dec/01/fun-physics-the-god-particle-tour-cern-european-organ... |
| Description | Interview with a primary school |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | the Erasmus+ STE(A)M IT project aims to strengthen the educational landscape by promoting innovative and cross-disciplinary approaches to STE(A)M teaching in education. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | http://steamit.eun.org/category/stem-careers/ |
| Description | Pint of Science 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Pint of Science festival aims to deliver interesting and relevant talks on the latest science research in an accessible format to the public - mainly across bars, pubs, cafes and other public spaces. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://pintofscience.com/ |
| Description | Talk at EPS-HEP 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The European Physical Society Conference on High Energy Physics (EPS-HEP) is one of the major international conferences that reviews the field every second year since 1971 and is organized by the High Energy and Particle Physics Divison of the European Physical Society. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://eps-hep2019.eu/ |
| Description | Talk at ICHEP 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | ICHEP is a series of international conferences organized by the C11 commission of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). It has been held every two years since more than 50 years, and is the reference conference of particle physics where most relevant results are presented. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://indico.cern.ch/event/868940/overview |
| Description | Talk at b-baryon fest workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | In this workshop experimentalists and theorists discussed current research activities around decays of b-baryons |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://indico.in2p3.fr/event/20198/ |
| Description | Tutor at CERN masterclasses |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Each year more than 13.000 high school students in 60 countries come to one of about 225 nearby universities or research centres for one day in order to unravel the mysteries of particle physics. Lectures from active scientists give insight in topics and methods of basic research at the fundaments of matter and forces, enabling the students to perform measurements on real data from particle physics experiments themselves. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://physicsmasterclasses.org/ |
| Description | Visit by STFC PPD staff members to the LHCb experiment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A visit to CERN for STFC staff was held, in which I gave them a tour of the LHCb experiment and talked about my research. The discussion afterwards was very positive, and the local liason reported positive feedback. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/PPD_STFC/status/1178619414708736002 |