coming soon
Given new experiments starting up and on the horizon, and the vastly increasing data volumes even at small experiments, the Nuclear Physics community has in recent years been thinking about the next generation of data processing and analysis workflows that will maximize the science output.
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) provides scientists worldwide the lab’s unique particle accelerator, known as the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF), to probe the most basic building blocks of matter by conducting research at the frontiers of nuclear physics (NP) and related disciplines. In addition, the lab capitalizes on its unique technologies and expertise to perform advanced computing and applied research with industry and university partners, and provides programs designed to help educate the next generation in science and technology.
Majority of computational science activities in Jefferson Lab focus on these areas : large scale and numerical intensive Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (LQCD) calculations, modeling and simulation of accelerators and the experiment detectors, fast data acquisition and streaming data readout, high throughput computing for data analysis of experimental data, and large scale distributed data storage and management.
Many Jefferson Lab scientists and staffs lead or actively participate the computational efforts in the above areas. Among those are computer/computational scientists and computer professionals from newly formed computational sciences and technology division (CST), physicists from physics division and the Center for Theoretical and Computational Physics, and accelerator physicists from Center for Advanced Studies of Accelerators (CASA). In addition, collaborations with universities and industrial partners further research and development in computational science.
Jefferson Lab maintains various state of art high performance computing resources onsite. CSGF students will utilize these resources to carried out their researches in the specific areas described below:
CASA and Jefferson Lab SRF institute focus on advanced algorithms, such as fast multipole methods, for multiparticle accelerator dynamics simulations, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applied to superconducting RF (SRF) accelerator operations, and integrated large and multi-scale modeling of SRF accelerator structures. These areas will be an essential part of a national strategy to optimize DOE operational facility investments, and to strengthen Jefferson Lab’s core competency of world-leading SRF advanced design and facility operations. Especially, current active simulation projects
like electron cooling, intra-beam scattering, and coherent synchrotron radiation present diverse research domains ranging from numerical algorithms development to parallel computing.
With tremendous advancement in micro-electronics and computing technologies in the last decade, many nuclear physics and high-energy physics experiments are taking advantage of these developments by upgrading their existing triggered data acquisition to a streaming readout model (SRO) , whereby detectors are continuously read out in parallel streams of data. An SRO system, which could handle up to 100 Gb/s data throughput, provides a pipelined data analysis model to nuclear physics experiments where data are analyzed and processed in near real-time fashion. Jefferson Lab is leading a collaborative research and development effort to devise SRO systems not only for CEBAF 12GeV experiments but also for the upcoming EIC facility. SRO development offers CSGF students some exciting research areas such as network protocol design, high speed data communication, high performance data compression and distributed computing.
Analysis of data from modern particle physics experiments uses technically advanced programming and computing techniques to handle the large volumes of data. One not only needs to understand aspects of parallel programming using modern languages such as C/C++, Java, and Python, but also must incorporate knowledge of experimental techniques involving error propagation and estimation in order to properly interpret the results. Aspects of this range from writing a single algorithm used in event reconstruction, to using the collection of algorithms written by others, to managing campaigns at HPC facilities that apply these algorithms to large datasets. Detector calibrations and final physics analysis are also significant parts of the analysis chain. CSGF students could participate in any of these areas.
Rapid developments in hardware computational power and an ever increasing set of data has lead to explosive growth in machine learning techniques, specifically deep learning techniques. These techniques threaten to change just about every facet of modern life and nuclear physics is no exception. At Jefferson Lab machine learning is being developed for every step in the physics workflow. To deliver beam to the experimental halls the accelerator relies on radio frequency (RF) cavities to accelerate the electrons. Occasionally these cavities, of which there are over 400 in operation around the accelerator, fault which disrupts the delivery of the beam to experiments. To quickly identify and diagnose cavity faults A.I. is being developed and deployed. Experiments themselves are developing and/or deploying A.I. to monitor detector performance, decide what data to keep, reconstruct detector responses, simulate the detectors, and even to analyze collected data. With the active development of machine learning tools and techniques Jefferson Lab hopes to drive nuclear physics research forward, enabling physicists to more quickly obtain and analyze high quality data.
Computational Sciences and Technology (CST) Division
The software computing round table meetings - we had one on Jupyter on Tuesday, December 3, 2019
In light of the evergrowing role that Software & Computing play in High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, and related fields, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the HEP Software Foundation, and Jefferson Lab are organizing the Software & Computing Round Table to foster the interplay of computing and science. The monthly round table forum aims for knowledge transfer and to encourage common projects within our scientific community.
Accelerate your career with a new role at the nation's newest national laboratory. Here you can be part of a team exploring the building blocks of matter and lay the ground work for scientific discoveries that will reshape our understanding of the atomic nucleus. Join a community with a common purpose of solving the most challenging scientific and engineering problems of our time.
A career at Jefferson Lab is more than a job. You will be part of “big science” and work alongside top scientists and engineers from around the world unlocking the secrets of our visible universe. Managed by Jefferson Science Associates, LLC; Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is entering an exciting period of mission growth and is seeking new team members ready to apply their skills and passion to have an impact. You could call it work, or you could call it a mission. We call it a challenge. We do things that will change the world.
At Jefferson Lab we believe in giving back to our community and encouraging the next generation of scientists and engineers. Our staff reaches out to students to advance awareness and appreciation of the range of research carried out within the DOE national laboratory system, to increase interest in STEM careers for women and minorities, and to encourage everyone to become a part of the next-generation STEM workforce. We are recognized for our innovative programs like:
1,500 students from 15 Title I schools engage in the Becoming Enthusiastic About Math and Science (BEAMS) program at the lab each school year.
60 teachers are enrolled in the Jefferson Science Associates Activities for Teachers (JSAT) program at the lab inspiring 9,000 students annually.
24 high school students have internships and 34 college students have mentorships at the lab.
Electronics Designer enthusiastically contributes to lab’s mission, knowledge pool
Marc McMullen has come a long way in understanding the work of the lab since he began his career in Hall B as a temporary employee “just pulling electrical cables” in 1996.
“I started out as your basic-level installation technician,” McMullen remembers. “We were building Hall B—the smallest and newest of the halls back then. I was hired as a temp. I was pulling cables and installing power supplies—and I didn’t know what a lot of it was that we were doing here at the lab. Back then I didn’t think about it.”
Now, McMullen is a senior instrumentation tech in the Detector Support group (DSG). He develops complex electronics systems for whatever is needed, be it a moisture sensor inside a machine or a functioning circuit board from scratch.
Once hired full time, McMullen committed himself to figuring out what, exactly, the lab produced.
“I started to wonder what we’re doing and I got interested in learning what I could do,” he said. “We don’t make things you can buy and hold, so there is no product to point to and say, ‘This is what we do.’”
To solve this riddle, McMullen turned his efforts toward asking more about the science to try to figure out how he could proactively support it.
“To get someplace, you have to absorb so much, and you have to have some value, and you want to know that the work that you do on a daily basis is important to the lab. So, I started to ask questions and learn everything I could. Now I’m the old guy who can share what I know—not in life, but at the lab,” McMullen laughs.
Working with his group, McMullen now helps to support all of the JLab experimental halls on projects of varying durations and complexities.
“We go beyond the scope of the physics division,” he explains. “We are also supporting the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) that is being designed for Brookhaven National Laboratory. So, while there are specific spheres that our group covers, we aren’t limited from working on different projects.”
Finding new challenges
For McMullen, part of the joy he gets from his work at the lab comes from the opportunity each project gives him to tinker with new challenges while ensuring that each project is able to be completed safely.
“I wear a lot of hats and I have to do a lot of different things, including serving as the safety leader of the group,” he says.
As an electronics designer, McMullen is generally called in to advise scientists and their teams early in the process of designing an experiment. From there, McMullen is tasked with finding solutions to make the scientists’ experiments possible.
“Each project starts out with a concept in someone’s head,” he says. “We meet with the scientists to learn about what they need. From there, there are a few ways to come up with the design for equipment that will do what they need. Sometimes the design is brand new, sometimes it exists and you’re reviewing it for safety and making sure it still works with the equipment we have, and sometimes you’re making modifications to old equipment and designs.”
Reusing old equipment can save millions of dollars, depending on the equipment, and it is helpful if McMullen and his team find thorough documentation as they begin the process of redesigning it.
“As a designer, we have to be very good about documenting our work, as well, because it often happens that an experiment can reuse equipment that has already been made or used—and it is helpful to have documentation available for current scientists as well as future scientists who may need to recycle parts.
“For example, on one project, we wanted to reuse the constant current source board, which is derived from an old circuit board from a previous detector that is so old nobody really knows where the documentation is. We had a board and we didn’t have the documentation so we had to study it carefully and work backwards to create the documentation on how it is put together.”
From temporary employee to senior designer
McMullen also admits to finding tremendous value in his position as one of the lab’s longest-standing employees.
“I’ve learned that, essentially, to get someplace, you have to absorb so much through experience and learning,” he says. “As an employee, you have to add some value to your workplace. You want to know that the work that you do on a daily basis is important to the lab.”
As the self-described “old guy,” McMullen appreciates the value that his decades of experience bring to the team. Just as he relied on those more experienced engineers, scientists and technicians to help him learn about the lab as he developed his career, McMullen is eager to document and share as much of his work as he can.
“We do a lot of research and development in our group, and we come up with the latest and greatest advancements,” he says. “I know a lot of the folks at the lab because I work on their experiments. But there’s still some mystery around what our group does. Our team covers all of the halls, but we are not based in the halls. And we are in the physics division, but the scope of our work goes beyond physics.”
Amrit Yegneswaran is the leader of the 10-person group, which reports to Patrizia Rossi, deputy associate director for the Experimental Nuclear Physics division.
“Without those two, we wouldn't have the independence to work with so many groups and on so many projects,” says McMullen. “Understanding what our group can do is important to our colleagues. Our leadership is very keen on sharing what we do as a support group to help with the experiments, and the DSG website has been a big focus for us.”
DSG website as clearinghouse
“Our website is a hub of information about our group, but it’s not just to who we are as a group, we also need to put information out to tell the story of what we do.”
McMullen points out that the DSG website features an action photo of someone from the group on nearly every page. The site gives viewers a look “under the hood” of how the electronics systems work at the lab.
“In the DSG, we like to share action photos online to help get people curious about this work our group does,” McMullen explains. “The photos are meant to make people ask, ‘What’s going on here?’ and they can see in the caption that, ‘Here I am designing a circuit on the constant current source board for Hall A for the proposed SoLid magnet,’ for example.”
Nearly three decades after first starting his career at the lab, McMullen has finally determined the essence of what it is that the lab produces.
“Now, after being here all these years, I know that our product at Jefferson lab is smart people. We produce smart people,” he concludes.
Further Reading
Visit the Detector Support group (DSG) website
Search the DSG notes
Search the DSG talks
View the DSG photo log
By Carrie Rogers
The Jefferson Lab campus is located in southeastern Virginia amidst a vibrant and growing technology community with deep historical roots that date back to the founding of our nation. Staff members can live on or near the waterways of the Chesapeake Bay region or find peace in the deeply wooded coastal plain. You will have easy access to nearby beaches, mountains, and all major metropolitan centers along the United States east coast.
To learn more about the region and its museums, wineries, parks, zoos and more, visit the Virginia tourism page, Virginia is for Lovers.
To learn more about life at Jefferson Lab, click here.
We support our inventors! The lab provides resources to employees for the development of patented technology -- with over 180 awarded to date! Those looking to obtain patent coverage for their newly developed technologies and inventions while working at the lab are supported and mentored by technology experts, from its discovery to its applied commercialization, including opportunities for monetary awards and royalty sharing. Learn more about our patents and technologies here.
“Every time we solve problems, we contribute. It’s exciting times for new results and discoveries.”
"Today, we use a lot of those same teamwork traits [learned from the military] on a daily basis as we're all working toward similar goals here at the lab in better understanding nuclei!"
"When I’m 95 years old, I hope I will be one of those people who worked in the background to affect other people’s lives for the better."
“Here at the lab you get to see what you’ve worked on. You can hold it in your hands. It’s rewarding to know that you’ve played a part in helping the machine to be successful.”
"My own research enables me to better lead the Theory Center, to lead our collaboration, to provide good guidance to our junior researchers on the team, and to provide valuable input to the advisory and review committees that I serve"
Jefferson Science Associates, LLC manages and operates the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. Jefferson Science Associates/Jefferson Lab is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer and does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, or veteran status or on any other basis prohibited by federal, state, or local law.
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JSA/Jefferson Lab values the skills, experience and expertise veterans can offer due to the myriad of experiences, skill sets and knowledge service members achieve during their years of service. The organization is committed to recruiting, hiring, training and retaining veterans, and its ongoing efforts has earned JSA/Jefferson Lab the Virginia Values Veterans (V3) certification, awarded by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
