Open Engineering (Dec 2017)
LHC@Home: a BOINC-based volunteer computing infrastructure for physics studies at CERN
- Barranco Javier,
- Cai Yunhai,
- Cameron David,
- Crouch Matthew,
- Maria Riccardo De,
- Field Laurence,
- Giovannozzi Massimo,
- Hermes Pascal,
- Høimyr Nils,
- Kaltchev Dobrin,
- Karastathis Nikos,
- Luzzi Cinzia,
- Maclean Ewen,
- McIntosh Eric,
- Mereghetti Alessio,
- Molson James,
- Nosochkov Yuri,
- Pieloni Tatiana,
- Reid Ivan D.,
- Rivkin Lenny,
- Segal Ben,
- Sjobak Kyrre,
- Skands Peter,
- Tambasco Claudia,
- Veken Frederik Van der,
- Zacharov Igor
Affiliations
- Barranco Javier
- Particle Accelerator Physics Laboratory, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)1015Lausanne, Switzerland
- Cai Yunhai
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA
- Cameron David
- University of Oslo, Postboks 1048 Blindern N-0316Oslo, Norway
- Crouch Matthew
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- Maria Riccardo De
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- Field Laurence
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- Giovannozzi Massimo
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- Hermes Pascal
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- Høimyr Nils
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- Kaltchev Dobrin
- TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, B.C., CanadaV6T 2A3
- Karastathis Nikos
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- Luzzi Cinzia
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- Maclean Ewen
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- McIntosh Eric
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- Mereghetti Alessio
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- Molson James
- LAL, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
- Nosochkov Yuri
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA
- Pieloni Tatiana
- Particle Accelerator Physics Laboratory, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)1015Lausanne, Switzerland
- Reid Ivan D.
- Brunel University, London, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK
- Rivkin Lenny
- Particle Accelerator Physics Laboratory, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)1015Lausanne, Switzerland
- Segal Ben
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- Sjobak Kyrre
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- Skands Peter
- School of Physics & Astronomy, Monash University, VIC-3800, Melbourne, Australia
- Tambasco Claudia
- Particle Accelerator Physics Laboratory, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)1015Lausanne, Switzerland
- Veken Frederik Van der
- CERN, 1211Geneva, Switzerland
- Zacharov Igor
- Particle Accelerator Physics Laboratory, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)1015Lausanne, Switzerland
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1515/eng-2017-0042
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 7,
no. 1
pp. 379 – 393
Abstract
The LHC@Home BOINC project has provided computing capacity for numerical simulations to researchers at CERN since 2004, and has since 2011 been expanded with a wider range of applications. The traditional CERN accelerator physics simulation code SixTrack enjoys continuing volunteers support, and thanks to virtualisation a number of applications from the LHC experiment collaborations and particle theory groups have joined the consolidated LHC@Home BOINC project. This paper addresses the challenges related to traditional and virtualized applications in the BOINC environment, and how volunteer computing has been integrated into the overall computing strategy of the laboratory through the consolidated LHC@Home service. Thanks to the computing power provided by volunteers joining LHC@Home, numerous accelerator beam physics studies have been carried out, yielding an improved understanding of charged particle dynamics in the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and its future upgrades. The main results are highlighted in this paper.
Keywords
- volunteer computing
- high energy physics
- particle accelerators
- beam dynamics
- 02.70.-c
- 07.05.tp
- 07.05.kf
- 29.20.-c
- 05.45.-a
