Edinburgh DiRAC Resource Grant
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
DiRAC (Distributed Research utilising Advanced Computing) is the integrated supercomputing facility for theoretical modelling and HPC-based research in particle physics, nuclear physics, astronomy and cosmology, areas in which the UK is world-leading. It was funded as a result of investment of £12.32 million, from the Government's Large Facilities Capital Fund, together with investment from STFC and from universities. In 2012, the DiRAC facility was upgraded with a further £15 million capital investment from government (DiRAC-2).
The DiRAC facility provides a variety of computer architectures, matching machine architecture to the algorithm design and requirements of the research problems to be solved. The science facilitated includes: using supercomputers to enable scientists to calculate what theories of the early universe predict and to test them against observations of the present universe; undertaking lattice field theory calculations whose primary aim is to increase the predictive power of the Standard Model of elementary particle interactions through numerical simulation of Quantum Chromodynamics; carrying out state-of-the-art cosmological simulations, including the large-scale distribution of dark matter, the formation of dark matter haloes, the formation and evolution of galaxies and clusters, the physics of the intergalactic medium and the properties of the intracluster gas.
This grant is to support the continued operation of the DiRAC facilities until 2017 to ensure that the UK remains one of the world-leaders of theoretical modelling in particle physics, astronomy and cosmology.
The DiRAC facility provides a variety of computer architectures, matching machine architecture to the algorithm design and requirements of the research problems to be solved. The science facilitated includes: using supercomputers to enable scientists to calculate what theories of the early universe predict and to test them against observations of the present universe; undertaking lattice field theory calculations whose primary aim is to increase the predictive power of the Standard Model of elementary particle interactions through numerical simulation of Quantum Chromodynamics; carrying out state-of-the-art cosmological simulations, including the large-scale distribution of dark matter, the formation of dark matter haloes, the formation and evolution of galaxies and clusters, the physics of the intergalactic medium and the properties of the intracluster gas.
This grant is to support the continued operation of the DiRAC facilities until 2017 to ensure that the UK remains one of the world-leaders of theoretical modelling in particle physics, astronomy and cosmology.
Planned Impact
The high-performance computing applications supported by DiRAC typically involve new algorithms and implementations optimised for high energy efficiency which impose demands on computer architectures that the computing industry has found useful for hardware and system software design and testing.
DiRAC researchers have on-going collaborations with computing companies that maintain this strong connection between the scientific goals of the DiRAC Consortium and the development of new computing technologies that drive the commercial high-performance computing market, with economic benefits to the companies involved and more powerful computing capabilities available to other application areas including many that address socio-economic challenges.
DiRAC researchers have on-going collaborations with computing companies that maintain this strong connection between the scientific goals of the DiRAC Consortium and the development of new computing technologies that drive the commercial high-performance computing market, with economic benefits to the companies involved and more powerful computing capabilities available to other application areas including many that address socio-economic challenges.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Richard Kenway (Principal Investigator) | |
| Peter Boyle (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Aarts G
(2014)
Bottomonium in the plasma: Lattice results
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Aarts G
(2016)
Spectral functions from anisotropic lattice QCD
in Nuclear Physics A
Aarts G
(2016)
The QCD phase diagram in the limit of heavy quarks using complex Langevin dynamics
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aarts G
(2016)
Finite Temperature Lattice QCD --- Baryons in the Quark--Gluon Plasma
in Acta Physica Polonica B Proceedings Supplement
Aarts G
(2015)
The Phase Diagram of Heavy Dense QCD with Complex Langevin Simulations
in Acta Physica Polonica B Proceedings Supplement
Aarts G
(2016)
Complex Langevin in Lattice QCD: Dynamic Stabilisation and the Phase Diagram
in Acta Physica Polonica B Proceedings Supplement
Aarts G
(2015)
Electrical conductivity and charge diffusion in thermal QCD from the lattice
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aarts G
(2014)
The bottomonium spectrum at finite temperature from N f = 2 + 1 lattice QCD
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Aarts G
(2017)
Parity doubling of nucléons, Delta and Omega baryons across the deconfinement phase transition
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Aarts G
(2014)
Quark-Gluon Plasma: from lattice simulations to experimental results
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Aarts G
(2015)
Nucleons and parity doubling across the deconfinement transition
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2020)
Direct C P violation and the ? I = 1 / 2 rule in K ? p p decay from the standard model
in Physical Review D
Acuto A
(2021)
The BAHAMAS project: evaluating the accuracy of the halo model in predicting the non-linear matter power spectrum
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Adamek J
(2020)
Numerical solutions to Einstein's equations in a shearing-dust universe: a code comparison
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Agertz O
(2020)
EDGE: the mass-metallicity relation as a critical test of galaxy formation physics
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Agudelo Rueda J
(2021)
Three-dimensional magnetic reconnection in particle-in-cell simulations of anisotropic plasma turbulence
in Journal of Plasma Physics
Agudelo Rueda J
(2022)
Energy Transport during 3D Small-scale Reconnection Driven by Anisotropic Plasma Turbulence
in The Astrophysical Journal
Ahad S
(2021)
The stellar mass function and evolution of the density profile of galaxy clusters from the Hydrangea simulations at 0 < z < 1.5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Al-Refaie A
(2021)
TauREx 3: A Fast, Dynamic, and Extendable Framework for Retrievals
in The Astrophysical Journal
Ali A
(2022)
Stellar winds and photoionization in a spiral arm
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Alioli S
(2021)
Four-lepton production in gluon fusion at NLO matched to parton showers
in The European Physical Journal C
Allanson O
(2021)
Electron Diffusion and Advection During Nonlinear Interactions With Whistler-Mode Waves
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Allanson O
(2020)
Particle-in-Cell Experiments Examine Electron Diffusion by Whistler-Mode Waves: 2. Quasi-Linear and Nonlinear Dynamics
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Allton C
(2023)
Recent results from the FASTSUM Collaboration
Almaraz E
(2020)
Nonlinear structure formation in Bound Dark Energy
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Amarante J
(2020)
The Splash without a Merger
in The Astrophysical Journal
Amato A
(2015)
Hadron wave functions as a probe of a two-color baryonic medium
in The European Physical Journal A
Amorisco N
(2022)
Halo concentration strengthens dark matter constraints in galaxy-galaxy strong lensing analyses
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Anderson S
(2022)
The secular growth of bars revealed by flat (peak + shoulders) density profiles
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Andrade T
(2021)
GRChombo: An adaptable numerical relativity code for fundamental physics
in Journal of Open Source Software
Andrassy R
(2022)
Dynamics in a stellar convective layer and at its boundary: Comparison of five 3D hydrodynamics codes
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Anisman L
(2020)
WASP-117 b: An Eccentric Hot Saturn as a Future Complex Chemistry Laboratory
in The Astronomical Journal
Anisman L
(2022)
Cross-sections for heavy atmospheres: H 2 O continuum
in Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer
Antolin P
(2020)
Reconnection nanojets in the solar corona
in Nature Astronomy
Aoyama T
(2020)
The anomalous magnetic moment of the muon in the Standard Model
in Physics Reports
Appleby S
(2021)
The low-redshift circumgalactic medium in simba
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Appleby S
(2020)
The impact of quenching on galaxy profiles in the simba simulation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Armijo J
(2022)
Making use of sub-resolution haloes in N -body simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Arnold C
(2022)
forge : the f ( R )-gravity cosmic emulator project - I. Introduction and matter power spectrum emulator
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Astoul A
(2022)
The effects of non-linearities on tidal flows in the convective envelopes of rotating stars and planets in exoplanetary systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Athenodorou A
(2016)
Large mass hierarchies from strongly-coupled dynamics
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Attanasio F
(2016)
Towards the heavy dense QCD phase diagram using Complex Langevin simulations
Attanasio F
(2020)
Complex Langevin simulations and the QCD phase diagram: recent developments
in The European Physical Journal A
Attanasio F
(2017)
Results on the heavy-dense QCD phase diagram using complex Langevin
Attanasio F
(2022)
Equation of state from complex Langevin simulations
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Aurrekoetxea J
(2020)
The effects of potential shape on inhomogeneous inflation
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Aurrekoetxea J
(2020)
Coherent gravitational waveforms and memory from cosmic string loops
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Aurrekoetxea J
(2022)
Where is the ringdown: Reconstructing quasinormal modes from dispersive waves
in Physical Review D
| Description | In December 2009, the STFC Facility, DiRAC, was established to provide distributed High Performance Computing (HPC) services for theoretical modelling and HPC-based research in particle physics, astronomy and cosmology. DiRAC provides a variety of computer architectures, matching machine architecture to the algorithm design and requirements of the research problems to be solved. This grant funds the continued operation of the 1.3Pflop/s Blue Gene/Q system at the University of Edinburgh, which was co-developed by Peter Boyle (University of Edinburgh) and IBM to run with high energy efficiency for months at a time on a single problem to solve some of the most complex problems in physics, particularly the strong interactions of quarks and gluons. The DiRAC Facility supports over 250 active researchers at 27 UK HEIs. This includes the research projects of 100 funded research staff (PDRAs and Research Fellows), over 50 post-graduate projects, and £1.6M of funded research grants. |
| Exploitation Route | Theoretical results obtained input to a range of experimental programmes aiming to increase our understanding of Nature. Algorithms and software developed provide input to computer design. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) |
| URL | http://dirac.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Intel IPAG QCD codesign project |
| Organisation | Intel Corporation |
| Department | Intel Corporation (Jones Farm) |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have collaborated with Intel corporation since 2014 with $720k of total direct funding, starting initially as an Intel parallel computing centre, and expanding to direct close collaboration with Intel Pathfinding and Architecture Group. |
| Collaborator Contribution | We have performed detailed optimisation of QCD codes (Wilson, Domain Wall, Staggered) on Intel many core architectures. We have investigated the memory system and interconnect performance, particularly on Intel's latest interconnect hardware called Omnipath. We found serious performance issues and worked with Intel to plan a solution and this has been verified and is available as beta software. It will reach general availability in the Intel MPI 2019 release, and allow threaded concurrent communications in MPI for the first time. A joint paper on the resolution to this was written with the Intel MPI team, and the application of the same QCD programming techniques to machine learning gradient reduction was applied in the paper to the Baidu Research all reduce library, demonstrating a 10x gain for this critical step in machine learning in clustered environments. We are also working with Intel verifying future architectures that will deliver the exascale performance in 2021. |
| Impact | We have performed detailed optimisation of QCD codes (Wilson, Domain Wall, Staggered) on Intel many core architectures. We have investigated the memory system and interconnect performance, particularly on Intel's latest interconnect hardware called Omnipath. We found serious performance issues and worked with Intel to plan a solution and this has been verified and is available as beta software. It will reach general availability in the Intel MPI 2019 release, and allow threaded concurrent communications in MPI for the first time. A joint paper on the resolution to this was written with the Intel MPI team, and the application of the same QCD programming techniques to machine learning gradient reduction was applied in the paper to the Baidu Research all reduce library, demonstrating a 10x gain for this critical step in machine learning in clustered environments. This collaboration has been renewed annually in 2018, 2019, 2020. Two DiRAC RSE's were hired by Intel to work on the Turing collaboration. |
| Start Year | 2016 |