For years, ACK Cyfronet AGH has been one of the computing centers forming part of the WLCG - Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, the global computing network of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The network utilizes computing resources from various institutions, enabling the central submission and distribution of tasks to dedicated processors, the execution of which would exceed the capabilities of a single center. For example, for the CMS (The Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment, these are computing campaigns covering data reconstruction and Monte Carlo simulations reflecting particle interactions in the detector and the response generated by measurement systems.
Furthermore, the long-term cooperation with CERN extends far beyond merely providing computing cores. An excellent example was the European project CrossGrid, coordinated by Cyfronet between 2002 and 2005. Within the project, in collaboration with, among others, physicists from the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN) in Krakow, distributed data processing systems were developed. A direct result of this work was the creation of the PLGrid infrastructure.
Data Storage Systems for CERN Experiments
Starting in 2025is the Cyfronet's scope of activities expanded. Our infrastructure was utilized to store data generated between 2022 and 2025 by one of the CMS subsystems, namely PPS, which is the primary data source for researchers from the AGH University of Krakow. Due to the recording of hundreds of petabytes of data per year (even after filtering), data from previous periods is quickly transferred to magnetic tapes at CERN. In this context, thanks to Cyfronet's support, researchers have facilitated, immediate access to the data, which is a significant advantage compared to the necessity of "retrieving" them from archival media at CERN.
Data stored at Cyfronet enables scientists to calculate detector calibrations and ensure appropriate data quality. Additionally, software packages used by Polish researchers in the CMS experiment are installed on our clusters, and their updates and full availability are supervised by the PLGrid Helpdesk team.
Currently, data analysis using machine learning is becoming increasingly important for CERN, which aligns very well with current research topics on artificial intelligence methods.
Direct participation in the research
Importantly, scientists conducting research at AGH in Krakow, who are also directly affiliated with Cyfronet, have worked and continue to work on experiments carried out at CERN using the Large Hadron Collider (including TOTEM, ATLAS, CMS).
yaptide Platform
An additional outcome of the cooperation with CERN is the yaptide platform for submitting simulations of particle interactions with matter. It is integrated with PLGrid services, thanks to which Polish scientists have convenient access to it via the PLGrid portal. Currently, computing tasks are executed on the Ares supercomputer installed at Cyfronet.