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Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) have largely been used in communication and high-performance computing and given the recent advances in big data and emerging trends in cloud computing (e.g., serverless [18]), FPGAs are increasingly being introduced into these domains (e.g., Microsoft’s datacenters [6] and Amazon Web Services [10]). To address these domains’ processing needs, recent research has focused on using FPGAs to accelerate workloads, ranging from analytics and machine learning to databases and network function virtualization. In this paper, we present an ongoing effort to realize a high-performance FPGA-as-a-microservice (FaaM) architecture for the cloud. We discuss some of the technical challenges and propose several solutions for efficiently integrating FPGAs into virtualized environments. Our case study deploying a multithreaded, multi-user compression as a microservice using the FaaM architecture indicate that microservices-based FPGA acceleration can sustain high-performance compared to straightforward implementation with minimal to no communication overhead despite the hardware abstraction.

Abstract Three-body nuclear forces play an important role in the structure of nuclei and hypernuclei and are also incorporated in models to describe the dynamics of dense baryonic matter, such as in neutron stars. So far, only indirect measurements anchored to the binding energies of nuclei can be used to constrain the three-nucleon force, and if hyperons are considered, the scarce data on hypernuclei impose only weak constraints on the three-body forces. In this work, we present the first direct measurement of the p–p–p and p–p– $$\Lambda $$ Λ systems in terms of three-particle correlation functions carried out for pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 13$$ s = 13 TeV. Three-particle cumulants are extracted from the correlation functions by applying the Kubo formalism, where the three-particle interaction contribution to these correlations can be isolated after subtracting the known two-body interaction terms. A negative cumulant is found for the p–p–p system, hinting to the presence of a residual three-body effect while for p–p– $$\Lambda $$ Λ the cumulant is consistent with zero. This measurement demonstrates the accessibility of three-baryon correlations at the LHC.

Abstract A newly developed observable for correlations between symmetry planes, which characterize the direction of the anisotropic emission of produced particles, is measured in Pb–Pb collisions at $$\sqrt{s_\text {NN}}$$ s NN  = 2.76 TeV with ALICE. This so-called Gaussian Estimator allows for the first time the study of these quantities without the influence of correlations between different flow amplitudes. The centrality dependence of various correlations between two, three and four symmetry planes is presented. The ordering of magnitude between these symmetry plane correlations is discussed and the results of the Gaussian Estimator are compared with measurements of previously used estimators. The results utilizing the new estimator lead to significantly smaller correlations than reported by studies using the Scalar Product method. Furthermore, the obtained symmetry plane correlations are compared to state-of-the-art hydrodynamic model calculations for the evolution of heavy-ion collisions. While the model predictions provide a qualitative description of the data, quantitative agreement is not always observed, particularly for correlators with significant non-linear response of the medium to initial state anisotropies of the collision system. As these results provide unique and independent information, their usage in future Bayesian analysis can further constrain our knowledge on the properties of the QCD matter produced inmore »ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions.« less

Abstract This article presents measurements of the groomed jet radius and momentum splitting fraction in pp collisions at $$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 5 . 02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Inclusive charged-particle jets are reconstructed at midrapidity using the anti- k T algorithm for transverse momentum $$ 60<{p}_{\textrm{T}}^{\textrm{ch}\;\textrm{jet}}<80 $$ 60 < p T ch jet < 80 GeV/ c . We report results using two different grooming algorithms: soft drop and, for the first time, dynamical grooming. For each grooming algorithm, a variety of grooming settings are used in order to explore the impact of collinear radiation on these jet substructure observables. These results are compared to perturbative calculations that include resummation of large logarithms at all orders in the strong coupling constant. We find good agreement of the theoretical predictions with the data for all grooming settings considered.

Abstract This article presents new measurements of the fragmentation properties of jets in both proton–proton (pp) and heavy-ion collisions with the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We report distributions of the fraction z r of transverse momentum carried by subjets of radius r within jets of radius R . Charged-particle jets are reconstructed at midrapidity using the anti- k T algorithm with jet radius R = 0 . 4, and subjets are reconstructed by reclustering the jet constituents using the anti- k T algorithm with radii r = 0 . 1 and r = 0 . 2. In proton–proton collisions, we measure both the inclusive and leading subjet distributions. We compare these measurements to perturbative calculations at next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy, which suggest a large impact of threshold resummation and hadronization effects on the z r distribution. In heavy-ion collisions, we measure the leading subjet distributions, which allow access to a region of harder jet frag- mentation than has been probed by previous measurements of jet quenching via hadron fragmentation distributions. The z r distributions enable extraction of the parton-to-subjet fragmentation function and allow for tests of the universality of jet fragmentation functions in the quark–gluon plasma (QGP).more »We find no significant modification of z r distributions in Pb–Pb compared to pp collisions. However, the distributions are also consistent with a hardening trend for z r < 0 . 95, as predicted by several jet quenching models. As z r → 1 our results indicate that any such hardening effects cease, exposing qualitatively new possibilities to disentangle competing jet quenching mechanisms. By comparing our results to theoretical calculations based on an independent extraction of the parton-to-jet fragmentation function, we find consistency with the universality of jet fragmentation and no indication of factorization breaking in the QGP.« less

A bstract Production of inclusive charmonia in pp collisions at center-of-mass energy of $$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 13 TeV and p–Pb collisions at center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $$ \sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}} $$ s NN = 8 . 16 TeV is studied as a function of charged-particle pseudorapidity density with ALICE. Ground and excited charmonium states ( J/ψ , ψ (2S)) are measured from their dimuon decays in the interval of rapidity in the center-of-mass frame 2 . 5 < y cms < 4 . 0 for pp collisions, and 2 . 03 < y cms < 3 . 53 and −4 . 46 < y cms < −2 . 96 for p–Pb collisions. The charged-particle pseudorapidity density is measured around midrapidity (| η | < 1 . 0). In pp collisions, the measured charged-particle multiplicity extends to about six times the average value, while in p-Pb collisions at forward (backward) rapidity a multiplicity corresponding to about three (four) times the average is reached. The ψ (2S) yield increases with the charged-particle pseudorapidity density. The ratio of ψ (2S) over J/ψ yield does not show a significant multiplicity dependence in either colliding system, suggesting a similar behavior of J/ψ andmore »ψ (2S) yields with respect to charged-particle pseudorapidity density. Results for the ψ (2S) yield and its ratio with respect to J/ψ agree with available model calculations.« less

A bstract The first measurements of elliptic flow of π ± , K ± , $$ \textrm{p}+\overline{\textrm{p}} $$ p + p ¯ , $$ {\textrm{K}}_{\textrm{S}}^0 $$ K S 0 , $$ \Lambda +\overline{\Lambda} $$ Λ + Λ ¯ , ϕ , $$ {\Xi}^{-}+{\overline{\Xi}}^{+} $$ Ξ − + Ξ ¯ + , and $$ {\varOmega}^{-}+{\overline{\varOmega}}^{+} $$ Ω − + Ω ¯ + using multiparticle cumulants in Pb–Pb collisions at $$ \sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}} $$ s NN = 5 . 02 TeV are resented. Results obtained with two- ( v 2 {2}) and four-particle cumulants ( v 2 {4}) are shown as a function of transverse momentum, p T , for various collision centrality intervals. Combining the data for both v 2 {2} and v 2 {4} also allows us to report the first measurements of the mean elliptic flow, elliptic flow fluctuations, and relative elliptic flow fluctuations for various hadron species. These observables probe the event-by-event eccentricity fluctuations in the initial state and the contributions from the dynamic evolution of the expanding quark–gluon plasma. The characteristic features observed in previous p T -differential anisotropic flow measurements for identified hadrons with two-particle correlations, namely the mass ordering at low p T and the approximatemore »scaling with the number of constituent quarks at intermediate p T , are similarly present in the four-particle correlations and the combinations of v 2 {2} and v 2 {4}. In addition, a particle species dependence of flow fluctuations is observed that could indicate a significant contribution from final state hadronic interactions. The comparison between experimental measurements and CoLBT model calculations, which combine the various physics processes of hydrodynamics, quark coalescence, and jet fragmentation, illustrates their importance over a wide p T range.« less