Sep 26

IBM’s Mira supercomputer tasked with simulating an entire universe in a fortnight

Posted in: Today's Chili

IBM's Mira supercomputer tasked with simulating an entire universe in a fortnight

A universe that only exists in the mind of a supercomputer sounds a little far fetched, but one is going to come to live at the Argonne National Laboratory in October. A team of cosmologists is using IBM’s Blue Gene/Q “Mira” supercomputer, the third fastest in the world, to run a simulation through the first 13 billion years after the big bang. It’ll work by tracking the movement of trillions of particles as they collide and interact with each other, forming structures that could then transform into galaxies. As the project’s only scheduled to last a fortnight, we’re hoping it doesn’t create any sentient characters clamoring for extra life, we’ve seen Blade Runner enough times to know it won’t end well.

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IBM’s Mira supercomputer tasked with simulating an entire universe in a fortnight originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 21:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 25

The Supercomputer That Houses an Entire Universe [Monster Machines]

Posted in: Today's Chili

Over a span of two weeks in October, the Mira supercomputer will crank away nonstop, processing quadrillions of operations every second—something that few other machines are currently capable of. It will simultaneously track trillions of particles as they move, expand, and react to each other according to the laws of physics. This simulation will have to use everything mankind has learned about the movement of objects. If successful, it will not only confirm what we’ve suspected, but will also give us a deeper understanding of how the cosmos came to be. Mira, in short, is simulating the history of our universe. More »

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