Once operational, the Einstein Telescope (ET) experiment will generate a large amount of experimental data, which will need to be efficiently managed and analyzed. One important requirement will be the ability to quickly respond to the detection of gravitational wave signals, which will pretend rapid analyses to generate critical alerts for multimessenger astronomy. For these reasons, ET will require cutting-edge computing systems.
As part of the NRRP ETIC project – dedicated to characterizing the Sos Enattos candidate site and establishing advanced research laboratories throughout Italy – activities have already begun on a laboratory focused on testing and evaluating computing technologies of potential interest to ET. This laboratory is called CTLab4ET (Computing Technology Laboratory for Einstein Telescope) and has been established at the INFN computing center in Turin, under the leadership of Stefano Bagnasco.
«A computing center like ours performs a series of critical activities to support scientific research, particularly in the fields of high-energy physics, astrophysics, gravitational waves, and other internationally significant projects such as the Einstein Telescope», emphasizes Luca Tabasso, an ETIC technician from the INFN Turin section. «Among other things, the computing center provides high-performance computing resources for running complex numerical simulations, such as those related to phenomena like black hole mergers, or analysis of data from gravitational wave detectors».
In the context of ET, a key activity, particularly for defining the computational model to be adopted, is the so-called technology tracking, which involves monitoring and studying the evolution of promising computing technologies for managing data from the future experiment. «ET will start acquiring data in no less than 10 years, during which many new developments and possibilities in computing are sure to emerge», explains Lia Lavezzi, an ETIC technologist in the same INFN Turin research group. «For this reason, a specific working group led by Sara Vallero, a technologist from INFN Turin, within the e-Infrastructure Board (eIB) of the ET scientific collaboration, is dedicated to studying the evolution of new technologies in the computing field».
The evaluation of emerging technologies aims to select those best suited to ET’s needs: the choice has to take into account the environmental impact of computational resources, an increasingly important aspect even at the design stage of the future research infrastructure.
Another important research area concerns defining the infrastructure for data distribution. Like many other major experiments currently underway, the Einstein Telescope will involve over a thousand scientists from around the world, who will need real-time access to the data recorded by the detector. It will therefore be essential to build a computing infrastructure dedicated to securely and efficiently recording, storing, and distributing the data. Currently, the working group is testing the “Rucio” data management server, developed by CERN’s ATLAS experiment and widely used in particle physics. «The goal is to determine whether this tool is also suitable for the Einstein Telescope’s data distribution», adds Lavezzi.
In the context of enhancing computing capabilities and network connections, the TeRABIT project is also active in Italy since 2023. Funded by the NRRP with € 41 million, it aims to create an integrated high-performance computing and network infrastructure based on next-generation fiber optics, allowing data to be exchanged at terabit (1 trillion bits) per second speeds. Accessible to scientific communities throughout the country, the new infrastructure will eliminate disparities in access to high-performance computing. In particular, the new network will support the needs of the many research infrastructures and laboratories in Sardinia, starting with those at the Sos Enattos site, the candidate site to host ET. «A portion of the high-performance computing infrastructure created by TeRABIT will also be hosted in Turin», comments Nicola Mosco, a TeRABIT technologist from INFN Turin. «The experimental resources of ETIC will be partially integrated with it, so that synergies between the projects to be exploited».
To learn more, watch the interviews with Lia Lavezzi and Luca Tabasso on the ET Italy YouTube channel.