Collaborative Research: CDI- Type II: Towards Analyzing Complex Petascale Datasets: The Milky Way Laboratory

银河系实验室将创建交互式访问，以访问有史以来最大的宇宙结构数值模拟之一。它的数据量接近1拍字节，说明了正在出现的数据挑战——新的突破需要我们在科学研究方式上进行非增量式的改变。随着数据集的规模每年翻一番，传统的分析技术已不再适用。科学家们需要一种新的仪器，就像“数据显微镜”，一种数据范围，它可以在海量的数字数据中看到细节和大规模的特征。提高原始计算机的能力是必要的，但还不够——我们还需要使用新的计算思维来开发所需的新方法。nsf支持的这项研究旨在实现数据密集型计算分析的突破。这门特殊的科学聚焦于银河系的起源和演化这一引人注目的问题，银河系是太阳和我们太阳系的家园。了解我们在宇宙中的位置将反过来引导我们洞察神秘的“暗物质”的本质，这种物质的引力使银河系聚集在一起，但对它知之甚少。该项目将创建一个可公开访问的“银河系实验室”，该实验室将结合最大的、最先进的计算机模拟银河系形成的输出与银河系中恒星（如太阳）属性的最大观测数据集，并提供超出任何数据集范围的问题的答案。可公开访问的数据和开发的工具将使科学家能够在前所未有的规模上运行他们自己的创新实验，这表明在今天的大学环境中解决pb规模的问题是可能的。该项目将为解决其他科学领域类似的数据密集型问题提供蓝图。国际团队由来自学术界（约翰霍普金斯大学和加州大学圣克鲁斯分校）和工业界的天文学家、粒子物理学家和计算机科学家组成，以实现其雄心勃勃的目标。该项目将使用美国国家科学基金会资助的5.5 pb数据范围系统，该系统正在约翰霍普金斯大学建设中，这是一个独特的数据密集型环境，旨在开展类似银河系实验室的实验。数据范围将位于JHU的一个新的计算设施，由NSF ARRA资助。

The Milky Way Laboratory will create interactive access to one of the largest numerical simulations of cosmological structure ever created. With its data volume close to a petabyte, it illustrates the emerging data challenge -- how new breakthroughs require non-incremental changes in the way we do science. As datasets are doubling in size every year, traditional analysis techniques are no longer adequate. Scientists need a new instrument, like a "microscope of data", a data-scope, that can look at both the details and the large-scale features in the mountains of digital data. Increased raw computer power is necessary, but not enough -- we also need to use new computational thinking to develop the new approaches needed. The NSF-supported research aims to achieve such a breakthrough in data-intensive computational analysis. The particular science focuses on the compelling question of the origin and evolution of the Milky Way Galaxy, the home of the Sun and our solar system. Understanding our place in the Universe will in turn lead to insight into the nature of the enigmatic 'dark matter', the substance whose gravity holds the Milky Way together, but about which little is known. The project will create a publicly accessible 'Milky Way Laboratory' that will combine the output of the largest state-of-the-art computer simulations of the formation of the Milky Way with the largest observational datasets of the properties of stars (like the Sun) in our Galaxy, and provide the means to answer questions that go beyond the scope of either dataset. The publicly accessible data and the tools developed will enable scientists to run their own innovative experiments at unprecedented scales, demonstrating that it is possible to tackle problems on the petabyte scale in a university setting today. The project will provide a blueprint to address similar data-intensive problems in other areas of science.The international team consists of astronomers, particle physicists and computer scientists from academia (Johns Hopkins and UC Santa Cruz) and industry to accomplish its ambitious goals. The project will be using the NSF-funded 5.5-petabyte Data-Scope system, under construction at the Johns Hopkins University, a unique data-intensive environment designed to carry out experiments like the Milky Way Laboratory. The Data-Scope will be located at a new computational facility at JHU, funded by an NSF ARRA grant.