DiRAC: Memory Intensive 2.5x

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Physicists across the astronomy, nuclear and particle physics communities are focussedon understanding how the Universe works at a very fundamental level. The distance scaleswith which they work vary by 50 orders of magnitude from the smallest distances probedby experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, deep within the atomicnucleus, 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 alsonew theoretical insights. Theoretical understanding comes increasingly from large-scalecomputations that allow us to confront the consequences of our theories very accuratelywith the data or allow us to interrogate the data in detail to extract information that hasimpact on our theories. These computations test the fastest computers that we have andpush the boundaries of technology in this sector. They also provide an excellentenvironment for training students in state-of-the-art techniques for code optimisation anddata mining and visualisation.The DiRAC2 HPC facility has been operating since 2012, providingcomputing resources for theoretical research in all areas of particlephysics, astronomy, cosmology and nuclear physics supported bySTFC. It is a highly productive facility, generating more than 250papers annually in international, peer-reviewed journals. However, theDiRAC2 hardware is now at least 5 years old and is therefore atsignificant risk of failure. The loss of any one of the DiRAC2services would have a potentially disastrous impact on the researchcommunities which rely on it to deliver their scientific research. Themain purpose of the requested funding for the DiRAC2.5x project is toreplace the ageing DiRAC2 hardware at Durham, Edinburgh and Leicesterwhile taking advantage of recent hardware advances to provide some newcapabilities (e.g. i/o acceleration using flash storage) as prototypesfor the proposed DiRAC3 services.The DiRAC-2.5x project builds on the success of the DiRAC-2.5 HPC facility and will provide the resources neededto support cutting edge research starting from 1/4/2018 in all areas of science supported by STFC.Specifically the funding sort by Durham will allow: A factor 2 increase in the size of calculation that can be run at Durham, and a 50% increase in theavailable computing power (assuming the current DiRAC-2.5 systems continue to operate at the current level). The usage of the system will be decided by the DiRAC Resource Allocation Committee primarily,but it is envisaged that the enhanced system will be used for very large calculations, for example, to:(i) simulate the merger of pairs of black holes which generate gravitational waves such as those recently discovered by theLIGO consortium;(ii) perform the most realistic simulations to date of the formation and evolution of galaxies in the Universe(iii) carry out detailed simulations of the interior of the sun and of planetary interiors.