CompF2: Theoretical Calculations and Simulation Topical Group Report

TL;DR

This report reviews the current state and future challenges of theoretical calculations and simulations in high energy physics, emphasizing the need for advanced computing techniques and specialized hardware to meet upcoming experimental demands.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges, potential solutions, and needs across six key areas in HEP simulations and calculations, highlighting the shift towards specialized computing hardware.

Findings

Increased complexity of HEP experiments demands more advanced simulations.

Emerging hardware like GPUs and FPGAs offer significant performance improvements.

Adapting algorithms to new hardware architectures is essential for future progress.

Abstract

This report summarizes the work of the Computational Frontier topical group on theoretical calculations and simulation for Snowmass 2021. We discuss the challenges, potential solutions, and needs facing six diverse but related topical areas that span the subject of theoretical calculations and simulation in high energy physics (HEP): cosmic calculations, particle accelerator modeling, detector simulation, event generators, perturbative calculations, and lattice QCD (quantum chromodynamics). The challenges arise from the next generations of HEP experiments, which will include more complex instruments, provide larger data volumes, and perform more precise measurements. Calculations and simulations will need to keep up with these increased requirements. The other aspect of the challenge is the evolution of computing landscape away from general-purpose computing on CPUs and toward special-purpose accelerators and coprocessors such as GPUs and FPGAs. These newer devices can provide substantial improvements for certain categories of algorithms, at the expense of more specialized programming and memory and data access patterns.