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Simulating the universe on an intercontinental grid of supercomputers

Understanding the universe is hampered by the elusiveness of its most common constituent, cold dark matter. Almost impossible to observe, dark matter can be studied effectively by means of simulation and there is probably no other research field where simulation has led to so much progress in the last decade. Cosmological N-body simulations are an essential tool for evolving density perturbations in the nonlinear regime. Simulating the formation of large-scale structures in the universe, however, is still a challenge due to the enormous dynamic range in spatial and temporal coordinates, and due to the enormous computer resources required. The dynamic range is generally dealt with by the hybridization of numerical techniques. We deal with the computational requirements by connecting two supercomputers via an optical network and make them operate as a single machine. This is challenging, if only for the fact that the supercomputers of our choice are separated by half the planet, as one is located in Amsterdam and the other is in Tokyo. The co-scheduling of the two computers and the 'gridification' of the code enables us to achieve a 90% efficiency for this distributed intercontinental supercomputer.