Acquisition of a New Scientific Computer

为维克森林大学物理系和化学系购置科学计算系统提供部分支持。该设施的主要用途是支持该部门在理论凝聚态物理，量子化学和弯曲空间的量子场论方面的研究。目前，这些部门操作一个由两台凸C-120向量化微型超级计算机组成的系统。拟议中的新系统将用一组最新的RISC超标量处理器取代这些过时的计算机。需要研究的问题包括：1)表面重构和电子隧穿的密度泛函研究；2)结构相变动力学中的非线性效应；3)固体中的点缺陷结构；4)量子场对黑洞时空的影响；5)大气分子种类的量子化学研究。要购买的计算机配置是一组惠普工作站，由Convex配置为元系统。该系统由以下硬件组成：4个HP 9000/735计算节点，每个节点具有128兆内存和1千兆字节的内部磁盘；20g的外部磁盘存储空间；额外的HP 9000/735，具有更小的内存和磁盘，用于系统管理。Convex将HP工作站打包成一个单元，并提供统一系统操作的软件，包括一个高度优化的科学子程序库。

Partial support is provided for the acquisition of a scientific computing system for the Wake Forest University Physics and Chemistry departments. The primary use of this facility would be to support the departments' research in theoretical condensed matter physics, quantum chemistry, and quantum field theory in curved space. At present these departments operate a system consisting of two Convex C-120 vectorizing minisupercomputers. The proposed new system will replace these obsolete computers with a cluster of the latest RISC superscalar processors. The problems to be studied include: 1) density functional investigation of surface reconstruction and of electron tunneling; 2) nonlinear effects in the dynamics of structural phase transitions; 3) point defect structures in solids; 4) effects of quantum fields on black hole spacetimes; and 5) quantum chemical investigation of atmospheric molecular species. The computer configuration to be purchased is a cluster of Hewlett-Packard workstations, configured into a Meta-system by Convex. The system consists of the following hardware: four HP 9000/735 computational nodes each with 128 Megabytes of memory and a 1 Gigabyte internal disk; 20 Gigabyte of external disk storage; an additional HP 9000/735 with smaller memory and disk for system administration. Convex packages the HP workstations into a single unit and provides software that unifies the system operation and includes a library of highly optimized scientific subroutines.