DiRAC: Memory Intensive 2.5y
Lead Research Organisation:
Durham University
Department Name: Physics
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 and 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 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.
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 and 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 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 the lead (Leicester) proposal describes the overall industrial strategy for the DiRAC facility, including our strategic goals and key performance indicators.
Organisations
Publications
Gaikwad P
(2020)
Probing the thermal state of the intergalactic medium at z > 5 with the transmission spikes in high-resolution Ly a forest spectra
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gaikwad P
(2021)
A consistent and robust measurement of the thermal state of the IGM at 2 = z = 4 from a large sample of Ly a forest spectra: evidence for late and rapid He ii reionization
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ganeshaiah Veena P
(2019)
The Cosmic Ballet II: spin alignment of galaxies and haloes with large-scale filaments in the EAGLE simulation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ganeshaiah Veena P
(2021)
Cosmic Ballet III: Halo spin evolution in the cosmic web
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Garg P
(2022)
The BPT Diagram in Cosmological Galaxy Formation Simulations: Understanding the Physics Driving Offsets at High Redshift
in The Astrophysical Journal
Glowacki M
(2020)
The redshift evolution of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation in Simba
Glowacki M
(2022)
ASymba: H i global profile asymmetries in the simba simulation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Glowacki M
(2022)
ASymba: HI global profile asymmetries in the Simba simulation
Glowacki M
(2020)
The baryonic Tully-Fisher relation in the Simba simulation
Glowacki M
(2021)
The redshift evolution of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation in SIMBA
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Glowacki M
(2020)
The baryonic Tully-Fisher relation in the simba simulation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Goater A
(2024)
EDGE: The direct link between mass growth history and the extended stellar haloes of the faintest dwarf galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gonzalez-Perez V
(2020)
Do model emission line galaxies live in filaments at z ~ 1?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gonzalez-Perez V
(2020)
Multiwavelength consensus of large-scale linear bias
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gonzalez-Perez V
(2020)
Do model emission line galaxies live in filaments at z~1?
Gourgouliatos K
(2020)
Nonaxisymmetric Hall instability: A key to understanding magnetars
Grand R
(2021)
Determining the full satellite population of a Milky Way-mass halo in a highly resolved cosmological hydrodynamic simulation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gray A
(2021)
Uncertainty Propagation in SINBAD Fusion Benchmarks with Total Monte Carlo and Imprecise Probabilities
in Fusion Science and Technology
Grove C
(2022)
The DESI N -body simulation project - I. Testing the robustness of simulations for the DESI dark time survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gu Q
(2022)
The spatial distribution of satellites in galaxy clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Guervilly C
(2019)
Turbulent convective length scale in planetary cores.
in Nature
Gunawardhana M
(2020)
Stellar populations and physical properties of starbursts in the antennae galaxy from self-consistent modelling of MUSE spectra
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gurung-Lopez S
(2019)
Lyman-alpha emitters in a cosmological volume II: the impact of the intergalactic medium
Gurung-López S
(2021)
Determining the systemic redshift of Lyman a emitters with neural networks and improving the measured large-scale clustering
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gurung-López S
(2019)
Lya emitters in a cosmological volume II: the impact of the intergalactic medium
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gómez J
(2022)
Halo merger tree comparison: impact on galaxy formation models
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Habouzit M
(2021)
Supermassive black holes in cosmological simulations I: M BH - M ? relation and black hole mass function
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hadzhiyska B
(2023)
The MillenniumTNG Project: refining the one-halo model of red and blue galaxies at different redshifts
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hafen Z
(2024)
The Halo21 absorption modelling challenge: lessons from 'observing' synthetic circumgalactic absorption spectra
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hagen S
(2023)
Modelling continuum reverberation in active galactic nuclei: a spectral-timing analysis of the ultraviolet variability through X-ray reverberation in Fairall 9
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hamilton E
(2024)
Catalog of precessing black-hole-binary numerical-relativity simulations
in Physical Review D
Hamilton E
(2023)
Ringdown frequencies in black holes formed from precessing black-hole binaries
in Physical Review D
Harnois-Déraps J
(2022)
MGLenS: Modified gravity weak lensing simulations for emulation-based cosmological inference
Harnois-Déraps J
(2023)
mglens : Modified gravity weak lensing simulations for emulation-based cosmological inference
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hassan S
(2022)
Reionization with Simba: How Much Does Astrophysics Matter in Modeling Cosmic Reionization?
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hassan S
(2020)
Testing galaxy formation simulations with damped Lyman-a abundance and metallicity evolution
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hatton D
(2021)
Bottomonium precision tests from full lattice QCD: Hyperfine splitting, ? leptonic width, and b quark contribution to e + e - ? hadrons
in Physical Review D