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At least 1,423 records · Page 79

Background and Roadmap for a Distributed Computing and Data Ecosystem

The drivers for using distributed computing and data resources are emerging from many science domains and have been documented through several recent Department of Energy (DOE) workshop reports. The increased usage and availability of geographically distributed computing and storage resources also highlight the need for easy-to-use tools and procedures that can support the paradigm of distributed computing and data management transparently. Aiming to meet each laboratory’s programmatic needs, a variety of computing resources are available throughout the DOE complex under various access policies, operating systems, and hardware configurations. However, today no straightforward mechanisms or policies exist for a given researcher or group of researchers to easily access resources at different locations across the DOE laboratory system. At the same time, DOE research programs have supported the research and development of technologies and tools that could enable researchers to access distributed data and computing resources globally. Academic and industry activities have also developed mechanisms for the distributed federation of resources. We observe that such existing capabilities can be harnessed to create mechanisms that enable researchers to work seamlessly across facilities.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Noise Decoherence and Errors from Entanglement-function Theory for Quantum Computing

A significant problem in quantum computing is the development of physical realizations of algorithms that are robust against noise. One way to examine and mitigate noise would be to simulate large sets of qubits coupling to the external environment on classical computers. This is extremely challenging as quantum information processing is in some sense tied to computing resources that scale exponentially with the number of computing elements (qubits). In this LDRD, we set the foundation for a computational framework potentially allowing simulations of 1000s of qubits vs. 10s now possible. Exact wave-function-based methods demand exponentially increasing resources with system size. The method proposed, entanglement-functional theory (EFT), requires vastly fewer resources. The crucial step is to map the information contained in the wave-functions into a simpler object with associated 1.) auxiliary gate operations and 2.) entanglement functionals of this object. This is similar to the Time-dependent Density Functional Theory (TDDFT) approach that has revolutionized chemistry and materials science. Instead of dealing with the exponentially large wave-function, EFT works with a polynomially large set of projections (the density) that are easily manipulated through unitary operations. For a given set of quantum gates, an isomorphism exists that relates the sequence of events to the time-dependent density. A system of entangled qubits can be simulated at drastically reduced cost relative to existing state-of-the-art vector-state simulation codes.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

XVis: Visualization for the Extreme-Scale Scientific-Computation Ecosystem (Year-end report FY16 Q4)

The XVis project brings together the key elements of research to enable scientific discovery at extreme scale. Scientific computing will no longer be purely about how fast computations can be performed. Energy constraints, processor changes, and I/O limitations necessitate significant changes in both the software applications used in scientific computation and the ways in which scientists use them. Components for modeling, simulation, analysis, and visualization must work together in a computational ecosystem, rather than working independently as they have in the past. This project provides the necessary research and infrastructure for scientific discovery in this new computational ecosystem by addressing four interlocking challenges: emerging processor technology, in situ integration, usability, and proxy analysis.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Nuclear Weapons Computational Physics [Slides]

This presentation provides an overview of computational physics, the role LANL played in the history of computational physics, and how computational physics differs at LANL. Next, the presentation addresses computational physics as part of the LANL weapons program. Finally, the computational physics structure at LANL is addressed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Understanding Interactive and Reproducible Computing With Jupyter Tools at Facilities

Increasingly Jupyter tools are being adopted and incorporated into High Performance Computing (HPC) and scientific user facilities. Adopting Jupyter tools enables more interactive and reproducible computational work at facilities across data life cycles. As the volume, variety, and scope of data grow, scientists need to be able to analyze and share results in user friendly ways. Human-centered research highlights design challenges around computational notebooks, and our qualitative user study shifts focus to better characterize how Jupyter tools are being used in HPC and science user facilities today. We conducted twenty-nine interviews, and obtained 103 survey responses from NERSC Jupyter users, to better understand the increasing role of interactive computing tools in DOE sponsored scientific work. We examine a range of issues that emerge using and supporting Jupyter in HPC ecosystems, including: how Jupyter is being used by scientists in HPC and user facility ecosystems; how facilities are purposefully supporting Jupyter in their ecosystems; feedback NERSC users have about the facility’s deployment, and, discuss features NERSC indicated would be helpful. We offer a variety of takeaways for staff supporting Jupyter at facilities, Project Jupyter and related open source communities, and funding agencies supporting interactive computing work.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Performance Analysis of PIConGPU: Particle-in-Cell on GPUs using NVIDIA’s NSight Systems and NSight Compute

PIConGPU, Particle In Cell on GPUs, is an open source simulations framework for plasma and laser-plasma physics used to develop advanced particle accelerators for radiation therapy of cancer, high energy physics and photon science. While PIConGPU has been optimized for at least 5 years to run well on NVIDIA GPU-based clusters, there has been limited exploration by the development team of potential scalability bottlenecks using recently updated and new tools including NVIDIA’s NVProf tool and the brand-new NVIDIA NSight Suite (Systems and Compute) tools. PIConGPU is a highly optimized application that runs production jobs at scale on a system Oak Ridge Leadership Facility’s (OLCF) Summit supercomputer (using the full machine at 4600 nodes; at 98% of GPU utilization on all ~28000 NVIDIA Volta GPUs). PIConGPU has been selected as one of the the eight applications for OLCF’s coveted Center for Accelerated Application Readiness (CAAR) program aimed at the facility’s Frontier supercomputer (OLCF’s first exascale system to launch in 2021), to partner with our vendors (primary vendors: AMD and Cray/HPE) ensuring that Frontier will be able to perform large-scale science when it opens to users in 2022. To this effect, performance engineers on the PIConGPU team wanted to dive deep into the application to understand at the finest granularity, which portions of the code could be further optimized to exploit the hardware on Summit at it’s maximum potential and also to elucidate which key kernels should be tracked and optimized for the CAAR effort to port this code to Frontier. Any bottlenecks that are observed via performance profiling on Summit are likely to also impact scalability on the Frontier-dev system and the Frontier Early Access (EA) system. Additionally, the engineers wanted to take a closer look at the newest NVIDIA profiling tools which allows us to identify the most useful features on these tools and will provide an opportunity to compare it to new AMD and Cray’s performance analysis tool releases and provide feedback to our vendor partners on what features are most important and mission critical for CAAR efforts. The primary goal of this report is to focus on the evaluation of PIConGPU’s most time-intensive kernels using NVProf and NSight Suite. Three kernels, Current Deposition (also known as Compute Current), Particle Push (Move and Mark), and Shift Particles are known to be some of the most time-consuming kernels in PIConGPU. The Current xi Deposition kernel and Particle Push kernel both set up the particle attributes for running any physics simulation with PIConGPU, so it is crucial to improve the performance of these two kernels. In this report, we measure single GPU metrics for the three kernels, offer high level takeaways from the conducted analysis, and compare the profiling data from NSight Compute to that of NVProf. This analysis was performed using a grid size of 240 x 272 x 224, and 10 time steps with the Mid-November Figure of Merit (FOM) run setup. The Traveling Wave Electron Acceleration (TWEAC) science case used in this run is a representative science case for PIConGPU. This execution can also be used for baseline analysis on AMD MI50/ MI60 systems. As of the time of writing, the PIConGPU application has limited use for features of NSight Systems, so this report will mainly focus on insights garnered from NSight Compute. For this analysis, we run the “full” metric set available in NSight Compute version 2020.1.2 and use NSight Systems version 2020.3.1 to generate the application timeline.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Porting E3SM from LANL’s Open to Classified Computing Networks

This project used turquoise computing time to support a LANL TED project focused on porting E3SM to classified computing resources. Computing time was used to test and confirm a complete and working simulation and analysis workflow prior to porting to yellow and SCI-level computing platforms. The code port and all planned simulations and analysis were successful. E3SM analysis from simulations on classified platforms was published to C2S and will be used to demonstrate and advertise LANL’s classified Earth system modeling and analysis capabilities to current and new customers in the intelligence community. This project also significantly improved library and E3SM analysis support on turquoise, yellow, and classified computing platforms at LANL, which will result in benefits beyond the work discussed here.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Evaluation of the Computing Systems for Yucca Mountain Repository TSPA-LA Model Operational Readiness

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) was tasked to conduct an evaluation of the legacy computing systems of the now-closed Yucca Mountain Project (YMP) to maintain the operational readiness of the computing infrastructure (computer hardware and software) and knowledge capability for total system performance assessment (TSPA) type analysis, in the event that the License Application (LA) review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is re-started and involves additional requests for information (RAIs). Six problem areas or components of the computing system were identified and subsequently resolved or improved to ensure the operational readiness of the TSPA-LA model capability on the server cluster. As part of this readiness review, the legacy TSPA computational cluster that was relocated from the SNL YMP Lead Lab Project Office in Las Vegas, Nevada to the SNL offices in Albuquerque, New Mexico was replaced with new hardware. Three floating licenses of Goldsim Version 9.60.300 were installed on the new cluster head node, and its distributed processing capability was mapped on the cluster processors. Other supporting software was tested and installed to support the TSPA- type analysis on the server cluster. TSPA-LA modeling cases were tested and verified for the model reproducibility on the current server cluster. All test runs were executed on multiple processors on the server cluster utilizing the Goldsim distributed processing capability, and all runs were completed successfully. The model reproducibility verification was evaluated by two approaches: numerical value comparison and graphical comparison, and the analysis demonstrated an excellent reproducibility of the TSPA-LA model runs on the server cluster. The current server cluster and supporting software systems are fully operational to support TSPA-LA type analysis.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Symposium: Quantum Theory, Quantum Materials, Quantum Computing (Final Report, DE-SC0022551)

Quantum mechanics is fundamental to understanding, predicting, and controlling many physical processes in a vast range of scientific and technological areas. In molecules and materials, the quantum mechanics of Coulombic many-body systems determines far more than the ground state and bulk properties. Quantum mechanics governs magnetism, electron and spin transport, chemical reactions and catalysis, superconductivity, photosynthesis, etc. Each plays a vital role in modern society. As digital technologies push both temporal and length-scale limits, fundamental quantum principles become the current focus for a new class of technologies: quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum encryption, etc. This oncoming quantum information sciences wave is manifest recently in frontier foci of all six Department of Energy Office of Science programs. The Sanibel Symposium offers a proven, influential platform for facilitating and advancing cross-fertilization among theoretical and computational chemists and physicists, computer scientists, and materials engineers. The Symposia have a long, successful record of driving progress on theory and computation of materials, nanostructures, and their molecular constituents. The Symposia thus are well-suited for advancing the quantum information science thrust in the Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES). With that QIS thrust as the focus, we propose five sessions of the 61st Sanibel Symposium on the theme Quantum Theory, Quantum Materials, Quantum Computing. From a longer perspective, this thematic program for 2022 is the second year of a five year plan of program segments addressed at challenges in quantum information sciences and quantum materials. The rest of the Symposium program will be of considerable relevance, with, for example, sessions on quantum molecular and material dynamics, and new directions in coupled cluster theory. New ideas for methods and applications can be expected to emerge from the stimulus of the formal presentations and informal discussions. The proposed award is targeted at students, post-docs, and junior scientists. Conscious effort, characteristic of the Sanibel Symposia, to stimulate the participation of women and under-represented minorities will continue.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Basic Research Needs in Quantum Computing and Networking

Employing quantum mechanical resources in computing, information processing, and networking opens the door to potential exponential advantages over classical counterparts. However, quantifying and realizing such advantages poses extensive scientific and engineering challenges. Department of Energy (DOE) investments have driven steady progress in addressing such challenges. Recently developed quantum algorithms offer asymptotic exponential advantages in speed or accuracy for fundamental scientific problems. These problems include simulating physical systems, solving systems of linear equations, differential equations, and optimization problems. Empirical demonstrations on nascent quantum hardware suggest better performance on contrived computational tasks than classical analogs. However, the requirements for a quantum computer or network to demonstrate an end-to-end rigorously quantifiable performance improvement over classical analogs remains a grand challenge, especially for problems of practical value. In particular, what will be required for quantum technology to ultimately exhibit scalable, rigorous, and transformative performance advantages for practical applications? In July 2023, DOE’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research program in the Office of Science convened the Workshop on Basic Research Needs in Quantum Computing and Networking, where major opportunities and grand challenges were identified. The following five priority research directions (PRDs) were identified as a result of the workshop.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Theoretical framework for new magnetic materials for quantum computing and information storage. Final report for the Award No. DE-SC0018910

The focus of this grant was on molecular magnetic materials for information storage and quantum computing. We have been developing robust, first-principle methods for computing relevant electronic and magnetic properties of molecular building blocks (SMMs) of novel magnetic materials and quantum computers. These tools enable theoretical modeling of SMMs’ behavior, facilitating the interpretation of experimental studies and aiding the design of novel magnetic materials. Our strategy is based on the spin-flip (SF) approach, which extends the hierarchy of black-box single-reference methods to strongly correlated systems. Specifically, we developed general scalable algorithms and computer codes for calculating molecular properties, with an emphasis on spin-related properties, such as zero-field splittings, hyperfine couplings, and g-tensors. While our primary focus was on SF wave functions and SF-TDDFT, the underlying theory and computer codes were formulated using reduced density matrices, such that these tools are applicable to a broader class of methods. To extend the scope of applicability of wave-function-based SF methods to larger systems, we developed reduced-scaling approaches for the equation-of-motion coupled-cluster (EOM-CC) methods and continue developing libtensor (our open-source general tensor contraction library for many-body methods). We carried out extensive benchmarks and also carried out several applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Learning-based Computational Study of the Thermodynamic, Structural, and Dynamic Properties of Molten Salt at the Atomic and Electronic Scale and Experimental Validations (Final Report for Project 19-16909)

The project completed several milestones related to the work scope to determine thermophysical properties of the molten salt FLiNaK. A combined approach to integrate advanced computations with neutron scattering experimental interrogation was used to quantify the structure and mass transport of pure FLiNaK and FLiNaK with additives. The additives investigated included Ce, Cs, Zr, and Cr. The primary outcome of the computational work was the development of a neutral network force field interatomic potential (referred to as the NNFF model in this document). The computational work also involved ab initio calculations to determine the ground truth and molecular dynamics simulations to provide computational analogs to the experimental campaign. The experimental work used enriched F 7 LiNaK prepared by Argonne National Laboratory. The use of enriched F 7 LiNaK reduced parasitic neutron absorption and significantly improved data collection and data quality. Several graduate students were supported during the course of the project, which included a one year no-cost extension. These students were trained in advanced computational methods, advanced neutron scattering methods, neutron scattering data analysis and interpretation, and molten salt sample preparation.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Brochure on the 2024 ASCR Workshop on Energy-Efficient Computing for Science

Large-scale computing has enabled numerous scientific discoveries, including ground-breaking achievements facilitated by the US Department of Energy (DOE) supercomputers and advances in applied mathematics and computer science. While important advances were made in energy efficiency to enable exascale computing, continued efforts are needed to dramatically improve the energy efficiency of the next generation of high-performance computing (HPC) systems and, more broadly, AI data centers. Without substantial improvements in energy efficiency, the energy consumption associated with computing could become a limiting factor for future scientific discovery, national security, and technological advancement.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Computationally evaluating high-yield metabolites for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using machine learning

The computational tool described in this report helps identify promising biological pathways that produce SAF platform molecules (either a drop-in SAF, or a precursor that can be easily converted to a drop-in SAF). The workflow the computational tool follows first identifies possible biological pathways from a user-defined metabolite. These pathways may, or may not lead to a SAF platform molecule, thus the second step involves insilico testing of the end product of each pathway to assess whether it is, or is not, a SAF platform molecule. The identification of biological pathways performed in the first step is facilitated by linking the metabolite to a biological reaction database. Pathways are found by identifying pathways in the reaction database that include the metabolite. The computational tool includes an alternative way to find pathways. The alternative way develops a Flux Balanced Analysis (FBA), and modifying the FBA to include reactions that transform the metabolite. These modifications serve as a basis for understanding, in a semi-quantitative way, if there is an increase in the flux to desirable products. The second step, in silico testing of the end-products, is accomplished by estimating key physical properties relevant to SAF. When good models are available, we have integrated those models into the computational tool. In a few instances, we have developed our own models. In all instances, we have validated the models against available measured data. Finally, we have evaluated the effectiveness of our computational tool by genetically engineering Rhodosporidium toruloides. Validation occurred without the use of a FBA, and further validation is required.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

2025 Workshop on Envisioning Frontiers in AI and Computing for Biological Research: Position Papers

This workshop aims to identify key research directions for transforming biology using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and computational methods to facilitate the discovery of new behaviors, mechanisms, and designs of biological processes relevant to DOE missions, underpinning a broader U.S. bioeconomy. By developing novel AI/ML technologies to analyze and interpret complex biological data, researchers can organize and simulate biological processes at various scales as well as advance predictive understanding and manipulation of biological systems. This integration of computation, experimentation, and next-generation experimental technologies can lead to discoveries in new biological behaviors and mechanisms relevant to DOE missions. The focus is on how advanced computational and mathematical methods can impact this mission by exploring digital twins, foundation models, automated laboratory experiments, modeling of complex living systems, and data-driven approaches for the biodesign of plants and microbial systems. While data management is important, it is not the primary focus of this workshop, which will assess the current state, trends, and AI/ML challenges at the interface between biology and computational science to identify opportunities for high-impact research at their intersection. The goal is to define research needs and opportunities that align with biological sciences, computational sciences, and applied mathematics research.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Support for the Core Research Activities and Studies of the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (DE-SC0020446 Final Technical Report)

Supported the core operations of the National Academies' Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB). Helped support planning and conducting of board meetings, identification of priority topics in computer science and other areas of computing and communications technologies, and oversight for CSTB's portfolio of studies and convenings. Activities shaped and overseen included: a workshop on Al for scientific discovery; collaborative work with other Academies units on a study on foundational research gaps and future directions for digital twins; a study on current capabilities, future prospects, and governance of facial recognition technologies, a study on post- exascale computing; a study on fostering responsible computing research, collaborative work with other Academies units on automated research workflows for accelerated scientific discovery; a study on meeting federal cybersecurity workforce needs, and a study of the ecosystem driving information technology innovation.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Learning quantum computers' errors using interpretable neural networks

Learning and reducing the errors and noise in quantum computing systems is necessary for achieving quantum computation’s promise. However, rapid advances in experimental quantum computing are making this task increasingly difficult, because state-of-the-art systems now contain hundreds of qubits and many characterization techniques are hard to apply at this scale. Furthermore, complex kinds of errors in these systems, such as crosstalk and non-Markovian effects, must be understood and decreased, but these errors are challenging to study with most existing methods. In this project, we explored using neural networks for scalable characterization of complex errors in quantum computers. We proposed and demonstrated characterizing a quantum computer’s errors with neural networks that have interpretable parameters corresponding to the rates of different kinds of errors, within a sparse Lindbladian parameterization for errors. To enable scaling to many qubit systems, these networks then predict how these errors combine within quantum circuits and impact their outcomes using an efficient approximations. We demonstrated these networks ability to learn coherent crosstalk errors and context-dependent errors in a simulated 4-qubit system.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Integrated Lift- and Wall-Force Closures in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CMFD)

In this report, we provide the necessary background to put this work in context and for a more detailed background, the reader is referred to CASL 2013 report. Central constraints on the design of LWRs are thermal-structural limits, e.g., maximum fuel pin temperature and maximum allowable working pressure in a pressure vessel. In both of these cases, the knowledge of the spatially and temporally varying two-phase flow is required to make accurate predictions as the distribution of both the phases have an impact on heat extraction as well as neutron moderation. Engineered two-phase flow systems have complex geometry and often high Reynolds numbers which increase the computational cost of an analysis, and generally make direct numerical simulations of the flow field impossible even on the fastest computers today. Consequently, a number of models which seek to reduce this computational cost have been created over the years. One of these called the two-fluid model has become the standard in three dimensional CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) codes and is and is also referred to as CMFD (Computational Multiphase Fluid Dynamics). The two-fluid model splits each conserved quantity into two fields, one for each phase that is treated as interspersed continua. Splitting one field into two requires additional interfacial closure relationships. In the two-fluid model, the momentum flux between the phases is governed by a number of these closure relationships. Generally, the net force on the dispersed phase is decomposed into inertial, added mass, buoyancy, drag, lift, and wall forces. In addition, there is a time-dependent Basset force, as well as turbulent dispersion effects.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗