Computers in High-Energy Physics

Abstract

The field of high-energy physics shares a common feature with computers—its dependence on progress in electronics to provide it with the capability to increase both the scale and the complexity of its performance. The chapter examines the widespread and varied use and impact of computers throughout the realm of high-energy physics research, and begins with a brief introduction to the concepts and goals of this branch of science. The chapter then describes how modern accelerators, the basic research tools, are designed, built, and operated. This is followed by a similar discussion on the large detectors used in present-day research to probe into the heart of the matter and to investigate the forces of nature. The large scale of the experimental collaborations has given rise to the need to establish communications systems whose development is outlined, and the manner in which bulk data processing is carried out is described. How the whole field has come to depend on increasingly sophisticated graphics devices is presented, and the chapter concludes by showing how the computing requirements of theoretical physicists have expanded rapidly and by pointing to trends for the future. At the same time, the almost symbiotic relationship between computing and high-energy physics has been stressed upon. © 1986, Academic Press Inc.