The DiRAC 2.5x Facility
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
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 more than 250 papers annually in international, peer-reviewed journals. However, the DiRAC2 hardware is now at least 5 years old and is therefore at significant risk of failure. The loss of any one of the DiRAC2 services
would have a potentially disastrous impact on the research communities which rely on it to deliver their scientific research. The main
purpose of the requested funding for the DiRAC2.5x project is to replace the ageing DiRAC2 hardware at Durham, Edinburgh and Leicester
while taking advantage of recent hardware advances to provide some new capabilities (e.g. i/o acceleration using flash storage) as prototypes for
the proposed DiRAC3 services.
DiRAC2.5x builds on the success of the DiRAC HPC facility and will provide the resources needed to support cutting-edge research
during 2018 in all areas of science supported by STFC. While the funding is required to "keep the lights on", 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 which 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 formation and 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 stars many times more massive than the sun.
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 more than 250 papers annually in international, peer-reviewed journals. However, the DiRAC2 hardware is now at least 5 years old and is therefore at significant risk of failure. The loss of any one of the DiRAC2 services
would have a potentially disastrous impact on the research communities which rely on it to deliver their scientific research. The main
purpose of the requested funding for the DiRAC2.5x project is to replace the ageing DiRAC2 hardware at Durham, Edinburgh and Leicester
while taking advantage of recent hardware advances to provide some new capabilities (e.g. i/o acceleration using flash storage) as prototypes for
the proposed DiRAC3 services.
DiRAC2.5x builds on the success of the DiRAC HPC facility and will provide the resources needed to support cutting-edge research
during 2018 in all areas of science supported by STFC. While the funding is required to "keep the lights on", 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 which 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 formation and 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 stars many times more massive than the sun.
Planned Impact
The anticipated impact of the DiRAC2.5x 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 DiRAC2.5x 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 DiRAC2.5x, including our strategic goals and key performance indicators.
our engagements with industry. Each service provider for DiRAC2.5x 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 DiRAC2.5x, including our strategic goals and key performance indicators.
Organisations
- University of Leicester (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER (Collaboration)
- Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) (Collaboration)
- Saclay Nuclear Research Centre (Collaboration)
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) (Collaboration)
- Microsoft Research (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- StackHPC Limited (Project Partner)
Publications
Idini A
(2017)
Ab Initio Optical Potentials and Nucleon Scattering on Medium Mass Nuclei
in Acta Physica Polonica B
Smith Matthew C.
(2017)
Supernova feedback in numerical simulations of galaxy formation: separating physics from numerics
in ArXiv e-prints
Katz Harley
(2018)
A Census of the LyC Photons that Form the UV Background During Reionization
in ArXiv e-prints
Fiacconi Davide
(2017)
Galaxy formation simulations with spinning black holes: method and implementation
in ArXiv e-prints
Bourne Martin A.
(2019)
AGN jet feedback on a moving mesh: lobe energetics and X-ray properties in a realistic cluster environment
in arXiv e-prints
Costa Tiago
(2017)
Quenching star formation with quasar outflows launched by trapped IR radiation
in ArXiv e-prints
McNally Colin P.
(2018)
Low mass planet migration in Hall-affected disks
in arXiv e-prints
Adamek Julian
(2018)
Bias and scatter in the Hubble diagram from cosmological large-scale structure
in arXiv e-prints
Hu Shaoran
(2017)
Impact of Cosmological Satellites on Stellar Discs: Dissecting One Satellite at a Time
in ArXiv e-prints
Joseph J
(2023)
Measuring the numerical viscosity in simulations of protoplanetary disks in Cartesian grids The viscously spreading ring revisited
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Welker C
(2018)
Caught in the rhythm I. How satellites settle into a plane around their central galaxy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Heath R
(2020)
On the orbital evolution of binaries with circumbinary discs
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Phillips M
(2020)
A new set of atmosphere and evolution models for cool T-Y brown dwarfs and giant exoplanets
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gronow S
(2020)
SNe Ia from double detonations: Impact of core-shell mixing on the carbon ignition mechanism
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Ziampras A
(2023)
Hydrodynamic turbulence in disks with embedded planets
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Izquierdo A
(2021)
The Disc Miner I. A statistical framework to detect and quantify kinematical perturbations driven by young planets in discs
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Andrassy R
(2022)
Dynamics in a stellar convective layer and at its boundary: Comparison of five 3D hydrodynamics codes
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Nelson R
(2023)
Gas accretion onto Jupiter mass planets in discs with laminar accretion flows
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Eager-Nash J
(2020)
Implications of different stellar spectra for the climate of tidally locked Earth-like exoplanets
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Vandenbroucke B
(2020)
CMACIONIZE 2.0: a novel task-based approach to Monte Carlo radiation transfer
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Constantino T
(2021)
Suppression of lithium depletion in young low-mass stars from fast rotation
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Liu Y
(2019)
Ring structure in the MWC 480 disk revealed by ALMA
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Drummond B
(2020)
Implications of three-dimensional chemical transport in hot Jupiter atmospheres: Results from a consistently coupled chemistry-radiation-hydrodynamics model
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Baraffe I
(2022)
Local heating due to convective overshooting and the solar modelling problem
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Nixon C
(2019)
What is wrong with steady accretion discs?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Le Saux A
(2022)
Two-dimensional simulations of solar-like models with artificially enhanced luminosity II. Impact on internal gravity waves
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Baraffe I
(2021)
Two-dimensional simulations of solar-like models with artificially enhanced luminosity I. Impact on convective penetration
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Adamek J
(2019)
Safely smoothing spacetime: backreaction in relativistic cosmological simulations
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Lawlor D
(2022)
Thermal Transitions in Dense Two-Colour QCD
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Mason D
(2022)
The density of states method in Yang-Mills theories and first order phase transitions
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Lee J
(2022)
Composite dynamics in Sp(2 N ) gauge theories
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Mason S
(2022)
Magnetoconvection in a rotating spherical shell in the presence of a uniform axial magnetic field
in Geophysical & Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
Davison T
(2022)
Complex Crater Formation by Oblique Impacts on the Earth and Moon
in Geophysical Research Letters
Sergeev D
(2023)
Simulations of idealised 3D atmospheric flows on terrestrial planets using LFRic-Atmosphere
in Geoscientific Model Development
Halim S
(2021)
Assessing the survivability of biomarkers within terrestrial material impacting the lunar surface
in Icarus
Srinivasan S
(2021)
Cosmological gravity on all scales. Part II. Model independent modified gravity N-body simulations
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
De Jong E
(2023)
Spinning primordial black holes formed during a matter-dominated era
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Ceuster F
(2022)
3D Line Radiative Transfer & Synthetic Observations with Magritte
in Journal of Open Source Software
Hebborn C
(2023)
Optical potentials for the rare-isotope beam era
in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics
Idini A
(2018)
Ab initio optical potentials and nucleon scattering on medium mass nuclei
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Agudelo Rueda J
(2021)
Three-dimensional magnetic reconnection in particle-in-cell simulations of anisotropic plasma turbulence
in Journal of Plasma Physics
Wurster J
(2022)
On the origin of magnetic fields in stars - II. The effect of numerical resolution
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Katz H
(2023)
The challenges of identifying Population III stars in the early Universe
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Panic O
(2020)
TW Hya: an old protoplanetary disc revived by its planet
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Zicher N
(2022)
One year of AU Mic with HARPS - I. Measuring the masses of the two transiting planets
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chisari N
(2018)
The impact of baryons on the matter power spectrum from the Horizon-AGN cosmological hydrodynamical simulation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kupilas M
(2021)
Interactions of a shock with a molecular cloud at various stages of its evolution due to thermal instability and gravity
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Meiksin A
(2017)
Gas around galaxy haloes - III: hydrogen absorption signatures around galaxies and QSOs in the Sherwood simulation suite
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ziampras A
(2023)
Buoyancy response of a disc to an embedded planet: a cross-code comparison at high resolution
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fletcher M
(2019)
Giant planets and brown dwarfs on wide orbits: a code comparison project
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Description | Many new discoveries about the formation and evolution of galaxies, star formation, planet formation have been made possible by the award. |
Exploitation Route | Many international collaborative projects are supported by the HPC resources provided by DiRAC. |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education |
URL | http://www.dirac.ac.uk |
Description | Major co-design project with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, including partnership in the HPE/Arm/Suse Catalyst UK programme. |
First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) |
Impact Types | Societal |
Description | DiRAC 2.5x Project Office 2017-2020 |
Amount | £300,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2018 |
End | 03/2020 |
Title | Citation analysys and Impact |
Description | Use of IT to determineacademic impact of eInfrastructure |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Understood emerging trends in DiRAC Science and helped decide the scale and type of IT investments and direct us to develop new technologies |
URL | http://www.dirac.ac.uk |
Description | Co-design project with Hewlett Packard Enterprise |
Organisation | Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Technical support and operations costs for running the hardware. Research workflows to test the system performance, and investment of academic time and software engineering time to optimise code for new hardware. Project will explore suitability of hardware for DiRAC workflows and provide feedback to HPE. |
Collaborator Contribution | In-kind provision of research computing hardware. Value is commercially confidential. |
Impact | As this collaboration is about to commence, there are no outcomes to report at this point. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | DiRAC |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Department | Distributed Research Utilising Advanced Computing |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I am the PI for two research grants for the procurement and running of the Complexity@DiRAC High Performance Computing cluster at the University of Leicester. This cluster is now in active operation as a national HPC facility. |
Collaborator Contribution | DiRAC is the facility which provides HPC resources for the theoretical astrophysics and particle physics communities within STFC. |
Impact | The establishment and running of a new HPC cluster at the University of Leicester as part of the DiRAC national facility. |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | STFC Centres for Doctoral Training in Data Intensive Science |
Organisation | University of Leicester |
Department | STFC DiRAC Complexity Cluster (HPC Facility Leicester) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Support for STFC Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Data Intensive Science - DiRAC is a partner in five of the eight of the newly established STFC CDTs, and is actively engaged with them in developing industrial partnerships. DiRAC is also offering placements to CDT students interested in Research Software Engineering roles. |
Collaborator Contribution | Students to work on interesting technical problems for DiRAC |
Impact | This is the first year |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Surrey-Saclay |
Organisation | Saclay Nuclear Research Centre |
Country | France |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Provided codes and know-how to develop GF Gorkov formalism and implementation. |
Collaborator Contribution | Help spreading and advertise my research |
Impact | Presentation of preliminary results at conference. Grant still ongoing. Results being written up. Output will be first ab-initio calculation of fully open shells. |
Start Year | 2010 |