MRI: Acquisition of a High-Performance Parallel Computing Cluster for Astrophysics Research at the University of California, Santa Cruz

天文学家在试图揭开宇宙奥秘的过程中并不仅仅使用望远镜。 许多问题需要大量的分析计算和使用计算机模拟来理解行星、恒星和星系是如何形成、生长、进化和死亡的。模拟可以包括大量的物体，嵌入在尘埃，气体，磁场以及未知暗物质的复杂环境中，并在这些物体相互作用，合并或破坏时跟踪它们。 今天的计算机已经成为大规模并行-也就是说，他们有许多“处理单元”并行工作，以解决这些高度复杂的问题。 加州大学圣克鲁斯分校的一个著名而成功的研究小组提议获得一个新的计算机“集群”，以解决天体物理学中尚未解决的难题。 首席研究员Piero Madau博士和他的团队将利用他们新的计算能力，试图回答从宇宙早期到现在及以后的许多天体物理学问题。 这个新的计算机集群将由数百个多处理器组成，既有传统的计算机处理器，也有图形处理器。 它将有一个PB的磁盘存储容量（即一百万GB！）。 这一重要研究工具的获得是由NSF的天文科学部通过主要研究仪器计划资助的。

Astronomers don't just use telescopes in their attempts to unravel the mysteries of the universe. Many problems require heavy analytic computation and the use of computer simulations to understand how planets, stars, and galaxies form, grow, evolve, and die. The simulations can include a huge number of objects, embedded in a complex environment of dust, gases, magnetic fields as well as the unknown dark matter, and follow these objects as they interact, coalesce, or disrupt. Today's computers have become massively parallel - that is to say that they have many "processing units" working in parallel to solve these highly complex problems. One noted and successful team at the University of California Santa Cruz proposes to acquire a new computer "cluster" to attack difficult unsolved problems in astrophysics. The Principal Investigator, Dr. Piero Madau, and his team will use their new computing power to try to answer many questions in astrophysics from the very early days of the universe up to the present time and beyond. This new computer cluster will consist of hundreds of multiple processors, both conventional computer processors as well as graphical processors. It will have one petabyte of disk storage capacity (that is one million gigabytes!). The acquisition of this important research tool is funded by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through the Major Research Instrumentation program.