Karthick Raj

ATLAS is engaged in a variety of R&D projects towards the use of GPUs both in the online trigger system and more broadly in the experiment. GPUs are already used in many analyses; they are particularly useful for machine learning applications where training can be done much more quickly. Outside of machine learning, ATLAS R&D efforts have focused on improving the software infrastructure in order to be able to make use of GPUs or other more exotic processors that might become available in a few years. A few complete applications, including a fast calorimeter simulation, also now run on GPUs, which will provide the key examples with which to test the infrastructure improvements. “All these developments are occurring against a backdrop of unprecedented evolution and diversification of computing hardware. The skills and techniques developed by CERN researchers while learning how to best utilize GPUs are the perfect platform from which to master the architectures of tomorrow and use them to maximize the physics potential of current and future experiments,” says Vladimir Gligorov, who leads LHCb’s Real Time Analysis project.