The DiRAC 2.5x Facility
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Institute of 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 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.
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 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.
Organisations
Publications
Ali A
(2020)
The effect of temperature-dependent viscosity and thermal conductivity on the onset of compressible convection
in Geophysical & Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
Arthur J
(2017)
nIFTy galaxy cluster simulations - V. Investigation of the cluster infall region
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bamber J
(2021)
Growth of accretion driven scalar hair around Kerr black holes
in Physical Review D
Bantilan H
(2019)
End point of nonaxisymmetric black hole instabilities in higher dimensions
in Physical Review D
Bazavov A
(2023)
Light-quark connected intermediate-window contributions to the muon g - 2 hadronic vacuum polarization from lattice QCD
in Physical Review D
Beg R
(2022)
Evolution, Structure, and Topology of Self-generated Turbulent Reconnection Layers
in The Astrophysical Journal
Bennett E
(2021)
Glueballs and strings in S p ( 2 N ) Yang-Mills theories
in Physical Review D
Bennett E
(2020)
Color dependence of tensor and scalar glueball masses in Yang-Mills theories
in Physical Review D
Bennett E
(2020)
S p ( 4 ) gauge theories on the lattice: Quenched fundamental and antisymmetric fermions
in Physical Review D
Beutler F
(2019)
Primordial features from linear to nonlinear scales
in Physical Review Research
Blondin S
(2022)
StaNdaRT: a repository of standardised test models and outputs for supernova radiative transfer
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bolton J
(2022)
Limits on non-canonical heating and turbulence in the intergalactic medium from the low redshift Lyman a forest
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bolton J
(2017)
The Sherwood simulation suite: overview and data comparisons with the Lyman a forest at redshifts 2 = z = 5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Booth R
(2021)
Modelling the delivery of dust from discs to ionized winds
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bourne M
(2019)
AGN jet feedback on a moving mesh: lobe energetics and X-ray properties in a realistic cluster environment
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bourne M
(2021)
AGN jet feedback on a moving mesh: gentle cluster heating by weak shocks and lobe disruption
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bourne M
(2017)
AGN jet feedback on a moving mesh: cocoon inflation, gas flows and turbulence
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Buividovich P
(2023)
Real-time simulations of quantum spin chains: Density of states and reweighting approaches
in Physical Review B
Buividovich P
(2020)
Electric conductivity in finite-density S U ( 2 ) lattice gauge theory with dynamical fermions
in Physical Review D
Cardoso V
(2023)
Curvature and dynamical spacetimes: can we peer into the quantum regime?
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Chardin J
(2017)
Large-scale opacity fluctuations in the Lya forest: evidence for QSOs dominating the ionizing UV background at z ~ 5.5-6?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cheung G
(2017)
Tetraquark operators in lattice QCD and exotic flavour states in the charm sector
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Chiba R
(2021)
Tree-ring structure of Galactic bar resonance
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chiba R
(2022)
Oscillating dynamical friction on galactic bars by trapped dark matter
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chiba R
(2021)
Resonance sweeping by a decelerating Galactic bar
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chubb K
(2021)
The ExoMolOP database: Cross sections and k -tables for molecules of interest in high-temperature exoplanet atmospheres
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Ciuca I
(2021)
Unveiling the distinct formation pathways of the inner and outer discs of the Milky Way with Bayesian Machine Learning
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Clough K
(2019)
Growth of massive scalar hair around a Schwarzschild black hole
in Physical Review D
Clough K
(2022)
Ghost Instabilities in Self-Interacting Vector Fields: The Problem with Proca Fields
in Physical Review Letters
Coleman G
(2024)
Constraining the formation history of the TOI-1338/BEBOP-1 circumbinary planetary system
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Collins C
(2022)
Double detonations: variations in Type Ia supernovae due to different core and He shell masses - II. Synthetic observables
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Colquhoun B
(2023)
Precise determination of decay rates for ? c ? ? ? , J / ? ? ? ? c , and J / ? ? ? c e + e - from lattice QCD
in Physical Review D
Cooper L
(2020)
B c ? B s ( d ) form factors from lattice QCD
in Physical Review D
Cooper L
(2022)
Form factors for the processes B c + ? D 0 l + ? l and B c + ? D s + l + l - ( ? ? ¯ ) from lattice QCD
in Physical Review D
Corman M
(2023)
Nonlinear studies of binary black hole mergers in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity
in Physical Review D
Cossu G
(2021)
Nonperturbative Infrared Finiteness in a Superrenormalizable Scalar Quantum Field Theory
in Physical Review Letters
Costa T
(2018)
Driving gas shells with radiation pressure on dust in radiation-hydrodynamic simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Costa Tiago
(2017)
Quenching star formation with quasar outflows launched by trapped IR radiation
in ArXiv e-prints
Croft R
(2023)
The gravitational afterglow of boson stars
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Cummins D
(2022)
Extreme pebble accretion in ringed protoplanetary discs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DeGraf C
(2020)
Cosmological simulations of massive black hole seeds: predictions for next-generation electromagnetic and gravitational wave observations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DeGraf C
(2017)
Black hole clustering and duty cycles in the Illustris simulation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Del Debbio L
(2021)
Renormalization of the energy-momentum tensor in three-dimensional scalar SU(N) theories using the Wilson flow
in Physical Review D
De Belsunce R
(2023)
B -mode constraints from Planck low-multipole polarization data
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
De Belsunce R
(2022)
Testing for spectral index variations in polarized CMB foregrounds
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
De Belsunce R
(2021)
Inference of the optical depth to reionization from low multipole temperature and polarization Planck data
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
De Ceuster F
(2020)
magritte, a modern software library for 3D radiative transfer - II. Adaptive ray-tracing, mesh construction, and reduction
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dome T
(2023)
On the cosmic web elongation in fuzzy dark matter cosmologies: Effects on density profiles, shapes, and alignments of haloes
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society