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| MILC code | |
|---|---|
| Name | MILC |
| Developer | USQCD Collaboration |
| Released | 1980s |
| Latest release | 2020s |
| Programming language | C, Fortran |
| Operating system | Unix-like |
| License | BSD-like |
MILC code
MILC code is a widely used software suite for numerical simulation in lattice gauge theory, primarily applied to quantum chromodynamics. It provides production-quality implementations for generating gauge configurations and measuring hadronic observables, used by research groups at institutions such as Fermilab, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and University of Washington. The project interfaces with high-performance computing centers including Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center.
The codebase supports ensembles for investigations into Quantum chromodynamics, flavor physics, and thermodynamics, enabling calculations relevant to experiments at CERN, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and Jefferson Lab. MILC implements actions and operators for lattice discretizations studied by collaborations like HPQCD Collaboration and RBC and UKQCD Collaborations, and it interoperates with gauge configuration archives maintained by ILDG and project groups at Columbia University. The suite is designed for portability across architectures used at Blue Gene, Cray XT, and contemporary accelerator-equipped clusters at European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts facilities.
Development began in the 1980s by researchers associated with Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and evolved through contributions from members of USQCD Collaboration, MILC Collaboration, and various national laboratories. Key milestones include the adoption of improved staggered fermion actions influenced by work at Fermilab and algorithmic integrations motivated by research at Cornell University and MIT. Over decades, developers added support for novel discretizations championed by theorists at University of Washington and numerical methods inspired by projects at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Yale University. The codebase grew through open collaboration with users from institutes such as University of Arizona, University of Colorado Boulder, and University of Edinburgh.
MILC offers multiple lattice actions, solvers, and measurement routines tied to observables studied by experiments at CERN and Brookhaven National Laboratory. Implemented actions include those derived from work by theorists at Columbia University and practitioners at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, matching techniques developed in studies involving BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The suite contains solver kernels compatible with accelerators promoted by NVIDIA and AMD, and includes interfaces that have been used in projects at Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Diagnostic tools and I/O formats align with standards used by USQCD Collaboration and archives coordinated with NERSC.
The implementation incorporates Krylov subspace solvers and preconditioners influenced by contributions from groups at Princeton University and Harvard University, and multigrid strategies inspired by work at University of Southampton and University of Wuppertal. Smearing and improvement operators reflect theoretical developments from Brookhaven National Laboratory and MIT. Parallelization uses MPI implementations common at Fermilab and threading models compatible with developments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Data structures and code organization were shaped by programming practices used in projects at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Optimizations target architectures deployed at national centers such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory, with tuned kernels contributed by teams at University of California, Berkeley and University of Washington. Performance engineering leverages vectorization techniques tested on Blue Gene systems and accelerators adopted by projects at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. I/O and parallel efficiency improvements draw on expertise from NERSC and collaborations with engineers at Cray Inc. and NVIDIA Research. Benchmarks have been performed in computational campaigns supported by resource allocations from XSEDE and leadership-class systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Researchers use MILC outputs in phenomenology and comparisons with experiments at CERN including Large Hadron Collider, flavor physics programs at KEK and Belle II, and nuclear theory efforts connected to Jefferson Lab. Results computed with the suite inform determinations of fundamental parameters referenced in publications from Particle Data Group and collaborative analyses involving HPQCD Collaboration and RBC and UKQCD Collaborations. The software underpins studies cited in work from groups at University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examining observables measured at BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and in heavy-flavor experiments at Fermilab.
The project is maintained by contributors affiliated with USQCD Collaboration, national laboratories like Fermilab and Brookhaven National Laboratory, and universities including Columbia University and University of Washington. Governance follows collaborative practices similar to those at CERN experiments and computational initiatives coordinated by DOE Office of Science. Licensing is permissive, fostering reuse in academic projects across institutions such as Princeton University and Yale University, and enabling incorporation into workflows supported by archives at NERSC and consortiums like ILDG.
Category:Computational physics software