[CAnet - news] Dzero (D0) experiment crunches record data over CA*net 4 lightpath

May 5, 2005
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Media Contact
Jana Makar, WestGrid, 403-210-5489, [email protected]


For Immediate Release
DZero Experiment Crunches Record Data with the Grid

(VANCOUVER, BC) - WestGrid researcher Dugan O'Neil is part of a project
breaking new records in data movement. O'Neil is one of nearly 650
scientists involved with the DZero Project, an international physics
collaboration between six countries.

DZero studies interactions of protons and antiprotons in an intense search
for subatomic clues that reveal the character of the building blocks of the
universe. 

A new dedicated network connection [ a user controlled lightpath provided by
CA*net 4 to the D0 researcher in Canada-BSA] on WestGrid has terabytes of
particle collision data flowing each day between Simon Fraser University,
the University of British Columbia and the Fermi National Accelerator
Laboratory (Fermilab) in Chicago. A similar round of data transfers was done
in 2003, but on a much smaller scale.

"The WestGrid share of the last (data) reprocessing was about 12 million
events (particle collisions)," says O'Neil. "This time it will be more than
100 million. Our dedicated network connection has allowed a dramatic
increase in our transfer rate compared to last time."

The particle collisions are recorded from the DZero detector at the Tevatron
- the world's highest-energy particle accelerator located in Batavia, IL.
Once captured, the data is processed into a form useable by physicists. 

Using grid computing, DZero partner facilities around the globe have begun
to provide enough computing power to crunch more experimental data than ever
before. In six months, the computers will process 250 terabytes of data -
enough to fill a stack of CDs as high as France's Eiffel Tower. 

"The grid allows DZero to make better use of remote human resources as well
as computing power," says O'Neil. "Participating in the reprocessing is an
important technical contribution for our group and it gives us the
experience needed to figure out how to efficiently analyze data remotely."

O'Neil and colleague Yann Coadou have overseen the coordination of the
high-speed data transfers between SFU, UBC and Fermilab.

The DZero experiment involves more than 80 institutions in Canada, the U.S.
and 18 foreign countries. WestGrid is a $50 million project to purchase and
install innovative grid-enabled computing infrastructure across BC and
Alberta. For a list of DZero's collaborating institutions, please visit the
DZero web site (www-d0.fnal.gov). Fermilab is operated by Universities
Research Association, Inc., a consortium of 90 research universities, for
the United States Department of Energy's Office of Science.


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