The UK is building Europe’s largest shared-memory supercomputer—a machine with up to 16 terabytes of globally addressable memory and novel accelerator chips—to answer fundamental questions about the universe’s structure and origins. This matters because current cosmological models, from the unification of forces to string theory, predict complex events in the early universe—such as cosmic defects or phase transitions—that leave faint traces in the cosmic microwave background, the distribution of galaxies, or gravitational waves. Existing computers cannot simulate these non-linear phenomena with enough resolution to predict what telescopes should see. The new DiRAC SMP node will also extract far more information from spectroscopic data on exoplanet atmospheres, helping determine how common worlds with conditions for life might be. This is fundamental science with no immediate practical application. It aims to constrain the basic laws of physics and understand how galaxies, stars, and planets form. Past investments in such computational infrastructure have, however, driven advances in parallel computing architectures and data-handling techniques that later found uses in climate modelling, drug discovery, and industrial simulation. A deeper understanding of the universe’s structure could, over decades, reshape the theoretical foundations on which future technologies are built.
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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 the DiRAC SMP Node, a highly flexible shared-memory (SMP) system with up to 16TB of globally addressable memory, which will be the largest such system in Europe and the first of its kind in the world to have Many Integrated Core accelerators. This HPC system will aim to advance the study of the early universe, the cosmic microwave sky and extra-solar planets. The unique SMP capabilities of this flexible architecture will be available to the wider community of DiRAC users. This proposal will advance our understanding in three key scientific areas: A. Science exploitation of the Cosmic Microwave Sky and Large-scale Structure surveys: The cosmic microwave background (CMB) remains the premier source for cosmological information. Planck satellite data, in which many COSMOS consortium members have leading roles, dramatically supersedes the previous WMAP satellite. The new SMP node will be actively used to open up new frontiers in CMB science which will constrain fundamental cosmology. With key Planck data releases scheduled for 2013 and 2014, the proposed SMP upgrade would be timed strategically to leverage the proprietary Planck data, maximizing science exploitation by UK members prior to release. Complementary work on large-scale structure will encompass a range of topics, from using surveys to constrain fundamental properties of the Universe, to understanding the hierarchical formation of galaxies and uncovering their detailed properties. B. Observational consequences of the Early Universe. The COSMOS consortium has pioneered the use of lattice field theory simulations to understand the physics of non-linear phenomena in the early universe. Such epochs are expected in most cosmological models derived from fundamental theories such as the unification of forces, cosmic defects, extra dimensions, and string and M-theory. The challenge using the new SMP node will be to identify and calculate the observable consequences of these theories, which can range from signatures in the cosmic microwave background or the large-scale structure of the universe through to the production of dark matter or primordial gravitational waves. C. Extra-solar planets and their atmospheres. The DiRAC SMP node will also support key UK research in extra-solar planets by the Miracle consortium. 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?
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