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| Large Hadron Collider |
| ESnet to Link LHC Data to U.S. Research Community |
| When hundreds of billions of protons, approaching the speed of light, collide in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)—the energy release and particle explosions will be extraordinary. Scientists hope the remnants from these subatomic smashups will provide valuable insights into the origins of matter and dark energy in the Universe. |
| Across the globe, researchers will be anxiously awaiting the results of this experiment. They anticipate that over 40 million proton collisions per second will occur in the LHC, a gigantic particle accelerator spanning the French-Swiss border. This will generate more data than the international scientific community has ever tried to manage. |
| Fortunately, the physicists foresaw the looming data challenge and communicated it to engineers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Sciences Network (ESnet). As a result, ESnet4 was developed, a new large-scale science data transport network with enough bandwidth to transport multiple 10 gigabits of information per second. For comparison, this capability is equivalent to transmitting 500 hours of digital music per second for each 10 gigabit line, if a minute-long MP3 file is about 2.4 megabits. |
| The LHC is the first experiment ever to utilize this network, which connects DOE national laboratories to researchers across the country. ESnet is funded by the DOE and managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. |
| "ESnet4 is one of the most robust scientific data networks in existence," says Joseph Burrescia, General Manager for ESnet. "The science environment of today is very different from that of a few years ago. ESnet4 provides high-speed, highly reliable connectivity between laboratories and U.S. and international research institutions required to support the inherently collaborative, global nature of modern large-scale science." |
| Two detectors inside the LHC—ATLAS and CMS—will record the material spewing out of protons that are ripped apart by the violent collisions. Initially, these data will be stored at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known by its French acronym, CERN, which manages the LHC. From CERN in Geneva, information will travel directly across the Atlantic Ocean via the USLHCnet, a reliable fiber optic network which can transfer data at the multiple gigabit-per-second rates produced by the experiment. This network is managed by researchers at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. |
| In the U.S. the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York will process and store data collected by the ATLAS detector, and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois will do the same for CMS data. Researchers at universities across the country, many of which are connected by Internet2, a leading research and education network, will be able to connect to these datasets through ESnet4. Two years ago, ESnet and Internet2 launched a partnership to develop and deploy DOE's next-generation scientific network. |
"LHC is just the beginning. ESnet4's innovative and reliable infrastructure allows scientists from all over the world, and across disciplines, to exchange large datasets and analyses efficiently. It is these collaborations, this sharing of information, that allows us to better understand the world around us," said Burrescia.
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