The ATLAS computing model: status, plans and future possibilities

Abstract

The ATLAS collaboration [The ATLAS webpage is located at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/index.html. [1]] has been preparing for Large Hadron Collider (LHC) running for more than 20 years. By summer of 2007 we expect the first colliding beams of protons and the start of a data deluge involving many petabytes of data per year. The collaboration is eagerly anticipating the many possible scientific discoveries which may lie hidden in this massive amount of information. I will discuss how the ATLAS collaboration is planning to manage this large amount of data and provide physicists the infrastructure required to: – Calibrate and align detector subsystems to produce well understood data; – Realistically simulate the ATLAS detector and underlying physics of interest; – Provide access to ATLAS data globally; – Define, manage, search and analyze data-sets of interest. There are also numerous research activities in networking and grids which could eventually have a significant impact on the ability of ATLAS (and LHC) physicists to quickly access distributed data sets and effectively manage and utilize their computational, storage and network resources. I will cover some of the research in this area and indicate how it might benefit ATLAS in augmenting and extending its infrastructure.