NGCM-0057: Quarks and gluons on High Performance Computers.

Quarks are the fundamental particles that make up most of ordinary matter. They are bound together by the strong nuclear force, mediated by the exchange of gluons as described by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). Quarks and gluons are not detected directly in experiments because of confinement; instead we see complicated bound states. By using simulations we are able to relate the bound state properties to those of the underlying quarks. The calculation is performed by constructing a discrete four dimensional space-time grid (the lattice) and then solving the QCD equations of motion on state-of-the-art high performance computers.

The LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN has recently made unexpected observations which depending on their correct interpretation might in the future turn into first a signal of New physics beyond the current Standard Model (SM). This is exciting news and triggers substantial efforts to try and understand the data better. One ingredient in this quest are predictions for hadronic matrix elements as the ones which lattice QCD can provide. Making these predictions will constitute the core of this project.

The successful candidate would join the group at an exciting point in time when a new generation of dedicated high performance computers will be installed and available. Pending the funding bodie’s decision we expect to have of the order of 10PFlop/s computing resources available to us. The project will comprise developing simulation code, algorithms and analysis tools necessary for making the above predictions with controlled systematic uncertainties.
Any progress will directly feed into our large-scale physics simulation program which we are carrying out within UK-US and UK-Japanese collaborations.

http://devel.shep.ecs.soton.ac.uk/content/andreas-juettner

http://devel.shep.ecs.soton.ac.uk/content/jonathan-flynn

This project is run through participation in the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Computational Modelling (http://ngcm.soton.ac.uk). For details of our 4 Year PhD programme, please see http://www.findaphd.com/search/PhDDetails.aspx?CAID=331&LID=2652

For a details of available projects click here http://www.ngcm.soton.ac.uk/projects/index.html

Visit our Postgraduate Research Opportunities Afternoon to find out more about Postgraduate Research study within the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering/news/events/2016/02/03-discover-your-future.page