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September 2015

NERSC Science Highlights

NERSC Science Highlights September 2015

Fusion Energy 3Dsimula*onsyieldnewinsightsintowhyplasmainaTokamakfusionreactorfailstoreachrequiredtemperatures(R. Davidson/E. Belova , PPPL)

Renewable Energy Ensemblesimula*onsofflowthroughgeothermalfracturenetworksimprovereliability&economicsofrenewablegeothermalenergy.(Melior Innovations Inc.)

Geophysics 3DscanofEarth’sinteriorconnectsplumesofhotrockrisingthroughthemantlewithsurfacehotspotsthatgeneratevolcanicislands (B. Romanowicz, UC Berkeley)

Climate Study estimates how much ice the W. Antarctic Ice Sheet could lose over the next two centuries and how that could impact sea-level rise (D. Martin , LBNL)

Particle Physics Nobelprizehonorsthediscoverythatneutrinoshavemassandoscillatebetweendifferenttypes.(Yuen-DatChan, LBNL)

September2015

Materials Science Simula*onsshowthathiFnggraphenewithcircularlypolarizedlaserpulsescancauseittochangestatefromasemi-metaltoaninsulator.(T. Devereaux , SLAC)

Scientific Achievement The discovery that neutrinos have mass and oscillate between different types.

Significance and Impact The discrepancy between predicted and observed solar neutrinos was a mystery for decades. This discovery overturned the Standard Model interpretation of neutrinos as massless particles and resolved the “solar neutrino problem.”

Research Details –  The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) detected all

three types (flavors) of neutrinos and showed that when all three were considered, the total flux was in line with predictions.

–  This, together with results from the Super Kamiokande experiment, was proof that neutrinos were oscillating between flavors and therefore had mass.

Nobel Prize in Physics 2015

Q.R.Ahmadetal.(SNOCollabora*on).Phys.Rev.LeQ.87,071301(2001)

ASNOconstruc*onphotoshowsthesphericalvesselthatwouldlaterbefilledwithwater.

HEP/NPNERSCPI:Yuen-DatChan(LBNL)

NERSC helped the SNO team use PDSF for critical analysis contributing to their seminal PRL paper. HPSS serves as a repository for the entire 26 TB data set.

ArthurB.McDonald,Queen’sUniversity(SNO)TakaakiKajita,TokyoUniversity(SuperKamiokande)

Scientific Achievement UCBerkeleyseismologistsproducedforthefirst*mea3DscanofEarth’sinteriorthatconclusivelyconnectsplumesofhotrockrisingthroughthemantlewithsurfacehotspotsthatgeneratevolcanicislandchains.

Significance and Impact Evidencefortheplumeandhotspottheoryhadpreviouslybeencircumstan*al;thetheoryhasnowbeenconfirmed

Research Details –  Tocreateahigh-resCTscanofEarth,theresearchersrannumericalsimula*onsofhowseismicwavestravelthroughthemantleandcomparedthemtothegroundmo*onactuallymeasuredbydetectorsaroundtheglobe.Thesimula*ons,runonNERSC’sEdisonsystem,computedallcomponentsoftheseismicwaves.

–  Themodelwastweakedrepeatedlytofitrecordeddatausingamethodsimilartosta*s*calregression.Thefinalcomputa*onrequired3millionCPUhoursonNERSC’ssupercomputers;parallelcompu*ngshrankthistoacoupleofweeks.

CT Scan of Earth Links Mantle Plumes with Volcanic Hotspots

PI:B.Romanowicz(UCBerkeley)

S.French,B.RomanowiczNature525,95-99,Sep.3,2015

A3DrenderingofshearwavespeedanomaliesbeneaththeCentralPacificbetweenthecore-mantleboundary(2891kmdepth)and400kmdepth.GreenconesandlabelshighlightlocaPonsofkeyhotspotvolcanoesinthisregion.

Scientific Achievement 3Dsimula*onsatNERSCyieldnewinsightsintowhyhotplasmainaTokamakfusionreactorsome*mesfailtoreachrequiredtemperatures.

Significance and Impact Thefindingscouldleadtoimprovedtemperaturecontrolinfusiondevicesandenhanceunderstandingofelectronenergytransportinfusionexperiments.

Research Details –  Oneofthelargestremainingmysteriesinplasmaphysicsishowelectronheatistransportedoutoftheplasma

–  3Dsimula*onsrunonNERSC’sHoppersystemusingdatafromtheNa*onalSphericalTokamakExperiment–PrincetonPlasmaPhysicsLaboratory’smajorfusionexperiment–showedthattwokindsofwavesinfusionplasmasappeartoformachainthattransfersneutral-beamenergyfromtheplasmacoretotheedge,wheretheheatdissipates

Electron Heat Loss in Fusion Plasma

PI:R.Davidson/E.Belova(PPPL)

Belova,Gorelenkov,Fredrickson,Tritz,CrockerPhys.Rev.LeQ.115,June29,2015

FES

ContourplotsofmagnePc-fieldperturbaPonshowresonantcouplingbetweencompressionalAlfvéneigenmodes(CAE)andkinePcAlfvénwaves(KAWs),whichleadstoheatdissipaPoninareactor.

Scientific Achievement Anewhigh-resolu*on,large-scalecomputermodel-Berkeley-ISICLES(BISICLES)-es*matedhowmuchicetheW.Antarc*cIceSheetcouldloseoverthenexttwocenturiesandhowthatcouldimpactsea-levelrise

Significance and Impact Theaccelera*onofWestAntarc*cicestreamsinresponsetooceanwarmingcouldresultinamajorcontribu*ontosea-levelrise,butprevious(lowerresolu*on)modelswereunabletoquan*fythis

Research Details –  Runningsimula*onsatNERSC,theresearchteamsubjected

theBISICLESmodeltoarangeofoceanandatmosphericchange:nochangeatall,futurechangesprojectedbyoceanandatmospheremodels,andextremechangesintendedtostudytheupperreachesoffuturesea-levelrise

–  TheresultsofglobalclimatemodelswerefedintoregionalmodelsoftheAntarc*catmosphereandocean,whoseresultswereinturnusedtoforcetheice-sheetmodelinthisstudy

BISICLES Ice Sheet Model and Climate Change

PI:D.Mar*n(BerkeleyLab)

S.L.Cornford,D.Mar*netalTheCryosphere,9,1579-1600,2015

ComputersimulaPonsrunatNERSCshowesPmatesoficeretreatintheAmundsenSeaEmbaymentby2154.WestAntarcPcaisoneofthefastestwarmingregionsonEarth,anditsicesheethasseendramaPcthinninginrecentyears.Theicesheetislosingsignificantamountsoficetotheocean,withthelossesnotbeingoffsetbysnowfall.

Scientific Achievement Simula*onsrunatNERSCshowthathiFnggraphenewithrealis*clow-frequencycircularlypolarizedlaserpulsescancauseittochangestatefromasemi-metaltoaninsulator.

Significance and Impact Graphenecouldbeusedtoreplacetradi*onalsemiconductorstoencodeandstoreinforma*on,withpossibleapplica*onsinlow-energyelectronics,quantumcompu*ng,lightdetectors…

Research Details –  TheoristsusedNERSC’sHoppersupercomputerto

performlarge-scalesimula*onsofanexperimentinwhichgrapheneishitwithcircularlypolarizedpulsesafewmillionthsofabillionthofasecondlong.

–  Theresultsshowedthatthe“handedness”ofthelaserpulsesledtointeres*ngandunexpectedproper*es:notonlydoesitproduceabandgap,butitalsoinducesaquantumstatethatcanbeswitchedeither“on”or“off.”

Polarized Laser Pulses Could Change Nature of Graphene

PI:T.Devereaux(SLAC)

Sentef,Claassen,Kemperetal.,2015,NatureCommunica*ons6,70475

ThisillustraPondepictsthestructureofgraphene,whichconsistsofasinglelayerofcarbonatomsarrangedinahoneycombpaXern.AnewsimulaPonsuggeststhatspiralingpulsesofpolarizedlaserlightcouldchangegraphene'snature,turningitfromametaltoaninsulator.

High Accuracy Modeling of Geothermal Wells

NERSC’sEdisonsimulatesfluidflowthroughanetworkof2900subsurfacefractures.“UsingFeNICSonHPCSystems”ChrisRichardsonandDavidBernstein,FeNICS2015Conference

Scientific Achievement Ensemble simulations of flow through geothermal fracture networks improve reliability & economics of renewable geothermal energy.

Significance and Impact –  Geothermal comprises 18% of California’s

renewable electricity generation. –  Drilling costs $5M per well, flow simulation

improves economics of geothermal over lifetime of field.

Research Details –  Subsurfacenetworkscontainingthousandsoffracturespresentcomplexdynamicflowanddiffusionproblems.

– Using NERSC, Melior Innovations Inc. scaled up solver code from cluster-scale to HPC scale

–  92% parallel efficiency on 10k cores; Nowfracturenetworksfrom Earthquake Data Center can be incorporated to improve simulation fidelity.

WorkwasperformedatMeliorInnova*onsInc.