Wendy Taylor and Sampa Bhadra, professors in York’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, are part of a team of 70 Canadian researchers working on an experiment dubbed ATLAS, which aims to uncover the mysteries of the Higgs particle. It’s a huge undertaking, involving nearly 2,000 researchers worldwide; they believe the Higgs particle is the last missing piece in the standard model of particle physics, and could explain the origin of mass.

The new IBM System Cluster 1350 supercomputer, launched yesterday at TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for subatomic physics, is the latest addition to the project’s international grid of high-performance computing centres.

It will help researchers analyze reams of data generated by the world’s largest nuclear collider, located at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva.

“What we’re attempting to accomplish is similar to searching for an invisible needle in the world’s biggest haystack,” says Taylor, York’s Canada Research Chair in particle physics. “A billion collisions occur each second and we need to understand which ones we should be looking at."

Taylor and Bhadra are charged with a crucial task: they’re designing “trigger algorithms” – a method of distilling the data generated by these collisions down to 200 per second, which are then stored for analysis at remote sites, such as the supercomputer at TRIUMF. These algorithms will help identify “jets” or “sprays” of particles that could indicate the presence of a Higgs boson.

“It’s very exciting,” says Taylor. “It would be even more interesting if we don't discover the Higgs boson, since that would reveal incredible secrets about the fundamental forces of nature and the smallest particles of matter."

Just how much data can the supercomputer handle? “It’s estimated to be the equivalent of half a million DVDs worth of data, per year, for as long as the experiment will run,” Taylor says.

The IBM System Cluster 1350 is part of the ATLAS Tier-1 Data Centre, which was funded by grants to the consortium universities from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, as well as a contribution by IBM.

ATLAS-CANADA

The ATLAS-Canada Collaboration consists of: University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, Carleton University, McGill University, Universite de Montreal, University of Regina, Simon Fraser University, University of Toronto, University of Victoria, York University, and TRIUMF. For more information, visit http://www.atlas-canada.ca 

TRIUMF

TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for subatomic physics, is a multi-disciplinary particle accelerator facility that conducts cutting-edge research in particle and nuclear physics, as well as in advanced materials.  The laboratory is also a leader in the production of isotopes for medical applications.  TRIUMF is operated by a consortium of Canadian universities, under a contribution from the National Research Council of Canada.  The member universities are: University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, Carleton University, Universite de Montreal, Simon Fraser University, University of Toronto, and University of Victoria. For more information, visit http://www.triumf.ca

CERN

CERN is building the world’s biggest and most powerful particle accelerator — the 27-km Large Hadron Collider. The experiments are designed to provide a deeper understanding of the universe. For more information, visit http://www.cern.ch

IBM Deep Computing

IBM collaborates with innovators and decision makers whose core business or research demands intense computation to advance technology to solve real business and industry problems. Together we're accelerating new uses of technology into areas previously limited by cost, knowledge or imagination. IBM delivers innovative, powerful, open High Performance Computing (HPC) solutions to address your demands for intense computation, visualization, or manipulation and management of massive amounts of data. For more information, visit http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/deepcomputing/

IBM System Cluster 1350

The IBM System Cluster 1350 is designed for a broad range of supercomputer application environments, including industrial design and manufacturing, financial services, life sciences, government and education. The IBM System Cluster 1350 leverages IBM’s extensive supercomputing experience to help minimize complexity and risk. Using advanced Intel® Xeon®, AMD Opteron™, and IBM PowerPC® processor-based server nodes, proven cluster management software and optional high-speed

York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 faculties and 24 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.

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Media contact:

Melissa Hughes, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22097 / mehughes@yorku.ca