UK R-matrix Atomic and Molecular Physics HPC Code Development Project (UK-RAMP)

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New areas of Science are emerging for which multi-electron dynamics in atoms and molecules are crucial. One important example is the field of Atto-second Science where laser light and the electrons of matter interact on the atto-second time-scale making possible, for example, the shortest-ever pulses of VUV light. One atto-second is only one millionth-millionth-millionth of a second but electrons driven by strong laser light collide violently with others and move distances large compared to the size of an atom on the atto-second time-scale of several hundred atto-seconds. Another important example is the recent appreciation that ionizing radiation damages living animals and plants by bringing about strand breaks in the DNA molecule through a multi-electron interaction.Such newly emerging areas of Science involve large experimental teams in the UK and around the world who publish their research findings in top journals such as Nature and Science. Despite this, there does not yet exist anywhere in the world a set of computer codes capable of calculations of sufficient sophistication to be useful in conjunction with the laboratory experiment effort, in driving the Science forward. Such calculations demand the full power of present (and prospective) High Performance Computing - available through machines which presently can cost 100M and upwards.The purpose of the proposed research is to develop a suite of high-quality computer codes that will be widely used; will harness such high performance computing machines most effectively over many years; and will relate directly to areas of Science (brief descriptions of two such areas given above) where a detailed account of multi-electron dynamics in electrons and molecules is essential to driving the Science forward.