An End-­Station for Intensity and Energy Frontier Experiments and Calculations

PI Taylor Childers, Argonne National Laboratory
Project Description

High  Energy  Physics  studies  the  properties  of  matter,  energy,  space  and  time  at  the  smallest  possible  distances.  Scientists  do  this  by  building  particle  detectors  of  great  size and  complexity  –  in  some  cases  weighing  thousands  of  tons  and  having  millions  of  readouts. Scientists then use these detectors by comparing computer simulations of what we  would  expect  to  see  if  different  theories  hold  true  with  the  actual  data,  and  seeing  which, if any, match. Progress can be made by improving either end of this comparison, and we propose here to improve the quality of the computer simulation. Using supercomputers, we can produce more simulated events, and simulation events of better accuracy or greater complexity than we could otherwise.

This project supports a team of experimental and theoretical physicists working together to answer fundamental questions for High Energy Physics. By creating an end-­station, we have  created  an  environment  where  other  particle  physicists  can  use  these  supercomputers  more  easily  and  quickly  than  they  would  on  their  own,  to  the  benefit  of everyone. The project extends scientific research by producing simulated collision events for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider that are too complex for simulation on  the  Grid,  by  improving  calculation  of  theoretical  matrix  elements  used  in  comparing  simulation  with  data,  and  by  simulating  and  analyzing  data  of  muon  and  neutrino experiments based as Fermilab and elsewhere.

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