LHC@home
LHC@home is a distributed computing project using the BOINC framework, run by CERN in Switzerland. It is considered an effort "to help build the LHC", a CERN project to create a large particle accelerator which will become active in 2007. The project was first introduced as a beta on September 1, 2004 and a record 1000 users signed up within 24 hours. The project went public, with a 5000 user limit, on September 29 to commemorate CERN's 50th anniversary. It involves a program called "SixTrack", created by Frank Schmidt, downloaded via BOINC onto participant computers running Windows or Linux. SixTrack simulates particles accelerating through the 27 km (17 mile)-long LHC to find their orbit stability. In one workunit, 60 particles are simulated travelling 100,000 loops, which would take about 10 seconds in an actual run. The orbit stability data is used to detect if a particle in orbit goes off-course and runs into the tube wall, which in an actual run would cause the accelerator to need repairs.
See alsoDistributed computingBOINCParticle acceleratorCERNLHC
External linkLHC@home Website
|
|
