A Petascale numerical library for multiscale phenomena simulations

Multiscale phenomena are a grand challenge for theory, simulations and experiments. It is therefore not surprising that systems which present wide range of scales under certain conditions are far less understood than those same system when conditions reduce the range of scales considerably. This challenge shows up in diverse fields. In cosmological structure formation simulations the challenge is increasing resolution while retaining the essential physics. In all-atom molecular dynamics simulations of enzymes it is simulating systems with a large number of atoms while resolving long-range interactions and having sufficiently high throughput. A prime example of multiscale phenomena is turbulent flows, a rich and complex subject of great relevance to many of the main technological issues of the day, including climate, energy, and the management of oil and biohazards. Here simulations have been historically limited to low Reynolds numbers or not resolving all details, due to the computational cost. Reducing this cost, and efficiently using the high-end computational platforms available to researchers today, often requires specialized expertise. Additionally, time and cost for developing scalable libraries may be an obstacle for many groups. This project aims at developing a powerful, flexible, and extensible suite of PetaScale libraries to provide tools for performing simulations of multiscale phenomena. The library will implement state-of-the-art techniques for reducing communication cost, which has become the most important contributing factor to the total simulation cost, especially at larger scales. It will provide a flexible set of features that will make it usable in a great number of codes across the disciplines. This combination of emphasis on scalable performance and richness of features makes this project unique among other libraries in existence today.  Given the extraordinary challenge of simulations of multiscale phenomena, this library will provide a realistic path towards the Exascale