US scientists analyze first LHC data through the Open Science Grid

www.symmetrymagazine.org...

Quote from source:
On November 30, 2009, the Large Hadron Collider became the most powerful particle accelerator in the world. Over the next month, the LHC’s four particle detectors recorded 100,000 particle collisions at record-breaking energies. Since then, scientists around the world have been continuously analyzing and re-analyzing the long-awaited collision data, and are publishing the first scientific papers . These first collisions have tested not only the LHC and experiments, but also the global and national computing systems that link scientists around the world with LHC data.

The task of connecting scientists with LHC data falls to the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, a collaboration linking computing grid infrastructures with each other and with 170 computing centers in 34 countries. In the United States, the Open Science Grid enables scientists to connect with the WLCG, and thus with data from their LHC experiments.

“We’re very proud to see how the Open Science Grid assisted LHC experiments during 2009,” says Ruth Pordes, OSG executive director. “It gives us confidence that the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid will enable future physics discoveries.”

The Open Science Grid allows the LHC experiments to access, maintain, and move huge quantities of data in the US. Through the OSG, experiments distribute the data taken from the detector to special computing centers called Tier-1 facilities. The two largest such facilities in the US are Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for the CMS experiment and Brookhaven National Laboratory for ATLAS. Through the OSG, US centers make available roughly 7 petabytes of data for the ATLAS experiment and 4.4 petabytes for CMS. To give a sense of scale, one petabyte is roughly equivalent to the data stored in 10,000 laptops.

From a Tier-1 facility, data are accessed by smaller Tier-2 and Tier-3 facilities such as universities, where students and scientists study the data. Even now, when the LHC is not running, the data in Tier-1 facilities are being accessed continually as scientists study 2009 data to improve their models and predictions about what the LHC may reveal.

I thought I would post this as I know other people as well as me are interested in everything to do with the LHC.

Glad to see so much updated information about the LHC and cannot wait to see what it has in store for us. The only problem is I feel like a child on christmas eve just waiting until I see whats under the tree.

I cannot wait and am very excited for the possibilities.

Any thoughts?

Pred..

I too think this is a very cool machine. I am especially interested in the Grid, I remember reading about it a couple years ago when it was being developed. It sounded then like it was the future of the internet. I know it is extremely fast and I don't have the knowledge to speak about it technically but I know its damn cool.