DiRAC SMP Facility: The Structure of the Universe

This proposal aims to address key questions about the fundamental structure of the Universe and the origin and nature of the galaxies, stars and planets within it. This proposal is to enhance the STFC DiRAC Facility which provides the primary computational platform for UK particle physicists, cosmologists and astrophysicists. The proposal will fund a flexible shared-memory (SMP) node with 16TB. This proposal will advance our understanding in 3 key scientific areas:

A. Science exploitation of the CMB and Large-scale Structure surveys:
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) remains the premier source for cosmological information. Planck satellite data dramatically supersedes the previous WMAP data and we will use it to constrain fundamental cosmology. With Planck data releases scheduled for 2013 and 2014, this upgrade will leverage the proprietary data, maximizing science exploitation by COSMOS members. Work on large-scale structure encompasses using surveys to constrain the properties of the Universe and understanding the hierarchical formation of galaxies.

B. Observational consequences of the Early Universe.
The consortium has pioneered the use of lattice simulations to understand the physics of non-linear phenomena in the early universe. This is expected in most cosmological models, including those with phase transitions, cosmic defects and extra dimensions. The challenge using the new SMP node will be to calculate the observable consequences of these theories, which can range from signatures in the CMB or large-scale structure through to the production of dark matter or primordial gravitational waves.

C. Extra-solar planets and their atmospheres.
The SMP node will also support key UK research in extra-solar planets. This is concerned with the observation and characterisation of exoplanets and their atmospheres, developing key numerical codes which are vital to this international endeavour. The new SMP system will allow much more information to be extracted from spectroscopic data from exoplanet environments. This will help us answer some of the oldest questions in science such as: Are there worlds beyond our solar system? Are they numerous or rare? How many of them have the right conditions for life?

The primary goal of the COSMOS consortium is to enable UK researchers to maintain international leadership as they advance the confrontation between fundamental and observational cosmology. COSMOS work has a significant economic impact through (I) training in high performance computing and (II) collaboration and interaction with HPC technology developers and we have collaborations with SGI and Intel. In June 2014, COSMOS@DiRAC became an Intel Parallel Computing Centre, representing a formal link with Intel. SGI also co-fund programmer support.

The COSMOS consortium has the largest user base of the STFC HPC consortia (mainly PDRAs and graduate students) and maintains a special emphasis on user accessibility and education, ensuring maximum benefit to UK science and subsequent employers. Significant numbers of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows have been and continue to be trained and given transferable skills, including analysis and problem-solving, software engineering and numerical simulation and techniques for massively parallel programming. The computational techniques employed involve a constant interplay between HPC codes and intuition on systems of huge inherent complexity. This sort of activity is highly regarded in the business world and in high-tech industries, providing an important platform for future employment.

The COSMOS consortium also contributes to the public understanding of science through its high media profile, thereby improving the social acceptability of new technology and attracting young people to consider careers in the sciences. In addition, COSMOS consortium members have had a high public profile and are engaged in outreach. Cosmology remains of major interest to the public. The group contains members who are particularly active in maximizing the impact of our science in the outside world to audiences of all sorts. Hawking is probably the most well known scientist in the world and his lectures, television coverage, and books have very widespread impact that acts as an important standard-bearer for the whole area of the Research Council's scientific work in cosmology and fundamental physics.

The Exomolo consortium will continue and broaden its researchers' current involvement in Knowledge Exchange and Outreach programmes:
(i) Quantemol, a UCL-based 'spin-out' firm related to the Miracle Exomol project
(ii) Providing accurate and complete molecular data to Industry and climate research programmes
(iii) Working with commerce, research design labs and other academic areas to produce new IT (hardware and software) solutions transferrable to Industry and academic areas such as Biomedicine;
(iv) Working with leading IT vendors to test and design new hardware and software solutions which will eventually end up in the marketplace.

There is an extra document attached which describes the impact of the whole DiRAC community.