Supercomputers break petaflop barrier, transforming science

Among the fascinating topics for modeling include even more precise calculations involving new lattice QCD methods for computing the mass of the proton and neutron. The recent report that newer QCD simulations produced results that are in good agreement with the measured masses of the proton and neutron begs the question as to whether even more resolution in the lattice QCD methods will lead to values that converge to limits that are definatively different from the observed masses of the neutron and proton.

The possibilities for modeling ever more complex gravitational wave forms can aid in the search for these waves by gravitational wave observatories such as the LIGO facility within the U.S. As a result, general relativity can be tested at more detailed and refined levels.

The accretion discs around supermasssive blackholes can be more effectively modeled.

The process of supernova explosions can be modeled in greater resolution.

The simulated detonation of nuclear weapons can be accomplished without the need for testing such devices.

Models of the birth of the universe in the Big Bang can now be modeled with greater resolution.

The list of subjects and systems that can by simulated is huge, and as supercomputer speeds approach 10 EXP 18 FLOPS in the decades ahead, the fields of computational physics, cosmology, biology, sociology, psychology, climatology and the list goes on and on, will greatly benefit from such ever more capable machines.