High Performance Computing – HPC Cluster Wilson

Computer simulations play an increasingly important role in physics, and have established themselves as a third pillar besides the more traditional disciplines of experimental and theoretical physics. In particle and nuclear physics, Monte Carlo simulations are becoming the standard tool in order to understand the forces between quarks inside atomic nuclei at the quantitative level. The theoretical foundation is Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), which describes the interactions between quarks and gluons. The formulation of QCD on a discrete space-time lattice makes it amenable to large-scale numerical simulations, similar to Monte Carlo simulations applied in condensed matter physics. The physics projects carried out on this HPC cluster focus on predictions of properties of the fundamental particles which all known matter in the universe is made of. The results will complement particle physics experiments like the ones at the LHC at CERN. The aim is to assess where our theoretical understanding of nature has its limits and where possibly so far unobserved new worlds of matter are waiting to be discovered and understood.