The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has received ￡12.32 million, from the Government’s Large Facilities Capital Fund, to invest in new hardware for the UK’s High Performance Computing Consortia (HPC) – providing UK particle physicists and astronomers with upgraded HPC technology to address some of the most challenging scientific problems.

　　The new funding will allow the UK’s HPC facilities to continue pooling their complementary expertise and help ensure that the UK remains one of the world-leaders of theoretical modeling in particle physics, astronomy and cosmology.

　　HPC-based modeling is an essential tool for the exploitation of observational and experimental facilities in astronomy and particle physics, as this technology allows our scientists to test their theories and run simulations from the data gathered in experiments. The UK has an extremely strong HPC community and continued investment in these powerful computing facilities will allow the UK science community to pursue cutting-edge research on a broad range of topics, from simulating the entire evolution of the universe, from the big bang to the present, to modelling the structure of matter.

　　“High performance computing is the engine for progress in contemporary science. This welcome announcement will ensure that the UK remains a major player in exciting scientific areas such as astronomy, cosmology and particle physics.”

　　Professor Richard Kenway, Tait Professor of Mathematical Physics and member of the UKQCD Collaboration, added, “This is perfect timing! Simulations of the strong interaction are just becoming possible at the level of accuracy needed by experiment. Within a year we will have a world-leading capability to test the Standard Model of particle physics and to try to explain the hoped-for discoveries at the Large Hadron Collider.”

Source: STFC