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CSRI Summer Proceedings 2021

The Computer Science Research Institute (CSRI) brings university faculty and students to Sandia National Laboratories for focused collaborative research on Department of Energy (DOE) computer and computational science problems. The institute provides an opportunity for university researches to learn about problems in computer and computational science at DOE laboratories, and help transfer results of their research to programs at the labs. Some specific CSRI research interest areas are: scalable solvers, optimization, algebraic preconditioners, graph-based, discrete, and combinatorial algorithms, uncertainty estimation, validation and verification methods, mesh generation, dynamic load-balancing, virus and other malicious-code defense, visualization, scalable cluster computers, beyond Moore’s Law computing, exascale computing tools and application design, reduced order and multiscale modeling, parallel input/output, and theoretical computer science. The CSRI Summer Program is organized by CSRI and includes a weekly seminar series and the publication of a summer proceedings.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Distributed Prognostics and Health Management with a Wireless Network Architecture

A heterogeneous set of system components monitored by a varied suite of sensors and a particle-filtering (PF) framework, with the power and the flexibility to adapt to the different diagnostic and prognostic needs, has been developed. Both the diagnostic and prognostic tasks are formulated as a particle-filtering problem in order to explicitly represent and manage uncertainties in state estimation and remaining life estimation. Current state-of-the-art prognostic health management (PHM) systems are mostly centralized in nature, where all the processing is reliant on a single processor. This can lead to a loss in functionality in case of a crash of the central processor or monitor. Furthermore, with increases in the volume of sensor data as well as the complexity of algorithms, traditional centralized systems become for a number of reasons somewhat ungainly for successful deployment, and efficient distributed architectures can be more beneficial. The distributed health management architecture is comprised of a network of smart sensor devices. These devices monitor the health of various subsystems or modules. They perform diagnostics operations and trigger prognostics operations based on user-defined thresholds and rules. The sensor devices, called computing elements (CEs), consist of a sensor, or set of sensors, and a communication device (i.e., a wireless transceiver beside an embedded processing element). The CE runs in either a diagnostic or prognostic operating mode. The diagnostic mode is the default mode where a CE monitors a given subsystem or component through a low-weight diagnostic algorithm. If a CE detects a critical condition during monitoring, it raises a flag. Depending on availability of resources, a networked local cluster of CEs is formed that then carries out prognostics and fault mitigation by efficient distribution of the tasks. It should be noted that the CEs are expected not to suspend their previous tasks in the prognostic mode. When the prognostics task is over, and after appropriate actions have been taken, all CEs return to their original default configuration. Wireless technology-based implementation would ensure more flexibility in terms of sensor placement. It would also allow more sensors to be deployed because the overhead related to weights of wired systems is not present. Distributed architectures are furthermore generally robust with regard to recovery from node failures.

Goebel, Kai↗

Phase-Retrieval Uncertainty Estimation and Algorithm Comparison for the JWST-ISIM Test Campaign

Phase retrieval, the process of determining the exitpupil wavefront of an optical instrument from image-plane intensity measurements, is the baseline methodology for characterizing the wavefront for the suite of science instruments (SIs) in the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). JWST is a large, infrared space telescope with a 6.5-meter diameter primary mirror. JWST is currently NASA's flagship mission and will be the premier space observatory of the next decade. ISIM contains four optical benches with nine unique instruments, including redundancies. ISIM was characterized at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD in a series of cryogenic vacuum tests using a telescope simulator. During these tests, phase-retrieval algorithms were used to characterize the instruments. The objective of this paper is to describe the Monte-Carlo simulations that were used to establish uncertainties (i.e., error bars) for the wavefronts of the various instruments in ISIM. Multiple retrieval algorithms were used in the analysis of ISIM phase-retrieval focus-sweep data, including an iterativetransform algorithm and a nonlinear optimization algorithm. These algorithms emphasize the recovery of numerous optical parameters, including low-order wavefront composition described by Zernike polynomial terms and high-order wavefront described by a point-by-point map, location of instrument best focus, focal ratio, exit-pupil amplitude, the morphology of any extended object, and optical jitter. The secondary objective of this paper is to report on the relative accuracies of these algorithms for the ISIM instrument tests, and a comparison of their computational complexity and their performance on central and graphical processing unit clusters. From a phase-retrieval perspective, the ISIM test campaign includes a variety of source illumination bandwidths, various image-plane sampling criteria above and below the Nyquist- Shannon critical sampling value, various extended object sizes, and several other impactful effects.

Design Analysis↗

Grover-QAOA for 3-SAT: quadratic speedup, fair-sampling, and parameter clustering

Abstract The SAT problem is a prototypical NP-complete problem of fundamental importance in computational complexity theory with many applications in science and engineering; as such, it has long served as an essential benchmark for classical and quantum algorithms. This study shows numerical evidence for a quadratic speedup of the Grover Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (G-QAOA) over random sampling for finding all solutions to 3-SAT (All-SAT) and Max-SAT problems. G-QAOA is less resource-intensive and more adaptable for these problems than Grover’s algorithm, and it surpasses conventional QAOA in its ability to sample all solutions. We show these benefits by classical simulations of many-round G-QAOA on thousands of random 3-SAT instances. We also observe G-QAOA advantages on the IonQ Aria quantum computer for small instances, finding that current hardware suffices to determine and sample all solutions. Interestingly, a single-angle-pair constraint that uses the same pair of angles at each G-QAOA round greatly reduces the classical computational overhead of optimizing the G-QAOA angles while preserving its quadratic speedup. We also find parameter clustering of the angles. The single-angle-pair protocol and parameter clustering significantly reduce obstacles to classical optimization of the G-QAOA angles.

Zhang, Zewen (ORCID:000000032258613X)↗

State Preparation of Antisymmetrized Geminal Power on a Quantum Computer without Number Projection

The antisymmetrized geminal power (AGP) is equivalent to the number projected Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (PBCS) wave function. It is also an elementary symmetric polynomial (ESP) state. We generalize previous research on deterministically implementing the Dicke state to a state preparation algorithm for an ESP state, or equivalently AGP, on a quantum computer. Our method is deterministic and has polynomial cost, and it does not rely on number symmetry breaking and restoration. We also show that our circuit is equivalent to a disentangled unitary paired coupled cluster operator and a layer of unitary Jastrow operator acting on a single Slater determinant. Here, the method presented herein highlights the ability of disentangled unitary coupled cluster to capture nontrivial entanglement properties that are hardly accessible with traditional Hartree–Fock based electronic structure methods.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Regional Source-Type Discrimination Using Nonlinear Alignment Algorithms

The discrimination problem in seismology aims to accurately classify different underground source types based on local, regional, and/or teleseismic observations of ground motion. Typical discriminant approaches are rooted in fundamental, physics-based differences in radiation pattern or wave excitation, which can be frequency-dependent and may not make use of the full waveform. In this article, we explore whether phase and amplitude distances derived from dynamic time warping (DTW) and elastic shape analysis (ESA) can inform event discrimination. We demonstrate the ability to distinguish underground point sources using synthetic waveforms calculated for a 1D Earth model and various source mechanisms. We then apply the method to recorded data from events in the Korean Peninsula, which includes declared nuclear explosions, a collapse event, and naturally occurring earthquakes. Phase and amplitude distances derived from DTW and ESA are then used to classify the event types via dendrogram and k-nearest-neighbor clustering analyses. Using information from the full waveform, we show how different underground sources can be distinguished at regional distances. We highlight the potential of these nonlinear alignment algorithms for discrimination and comment on ways we can extend the framework presented here.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Estimating cluster masses from SDSS multiband images with transfer learning

ABSTRACT The total masses of galaxy clusters characterize many aspects of astrophysics and the underlying cosmology. It is crucial to obtain reliable and accurate mass estimates for numerous galaxy clusters over a wide range of redshifts and mass scales. We present a transfer-learning approach to estimate cluster masses using the ugriz-band images in the SDSS Data Release 12. The target masses are derived from X-ray or SZ measurements that are only available for a small subset of the clusters. We designed a semisupervised deep learning model consisting of two convolutional neural networks. In the first network, a feature extractor is trained to classify the SDSS photometric bands. The second network takes the previously trained features as inputs to estimate their total masses. The training and testing processes in this work depend purely on real observational data. Our algorithm reaches a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.232 dex on average and 0.214 dex for the best fold. The performance is comparable to that given by redMaPPer, 0.192 dex. We have further applied a joint integrated gradient and class activation mapping method to interpret such a two-step neural network. The performance of our algorithm is likely to improve as the size of training data set increases. This proof-of-concept experiment demonstrates the potential of deep learning in maximizing the scientific return of the current and future large cluster surveys.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Differentiable Predictions for Large Scale Structure with SHAMNet

In simulation-based models of the galaxy-halo connection, theoretical predictions for galaxy clustering and lensing are typically made based on Monte Carlo realizations of a mock universe. In this paper, we use Subhalo Abundance Matching (SHAM) as a toy model to introduce an alternative to stochastic predictions based on mock population, demonstrating how to make simulation-based predictions for clustering and lensing that are both exact and differentiable with respect to the parameters of the model. Conventional implementations of SHAM are based on iterative algorithms such as Richardson-Lucy deconvolution; here we use the JAX library for automatic differentiation to train SHAMNet, a neural network that accurately approximates the stellar-to-halo mass relation (SMHM) defined by abundance matching. In our approach to making differentiable predictions of large-scale structure, we map parameterized PDFs onto each simulated halo, and calculate gradients of summary statistics of the galaxy distribution by using autodiff to propagate the gradients of the SMHM through the statistical estimators used to measure one- and two-point functions. Our techniques are quite general, and we conclude with an overview of how they can be applied in tandem with more complex, higher-dimensional models, creating the capability to make differentiable predictions for the multi-wavelength universe of galaxies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Quantum simulations of excited states with active-space downfolded Hamiltonians

Many-body techniques based on the double unitary coupled cluster ansatz (DUCC) can be used to downfold electronic Hamiltonians into low-dimensional active spaces. It can be shown that the resulting dimensionality reduced Hamiltonians are amenable for quantum computing. Recent studies performed for several benchmark systems using quantum phase estimation (QPE) algorithms demonstrated that these formulations can recover a significant portion of ground-state dynamical correlation effects that stem from the electron excitations outside of the active space. These results have also been confirmed in studies of ground-state potential energy surfaces using quantum simulators. In this letter, we study the effectiveness of the DUCC formalism in describing excited states. We also emphasize the role of the QPE formalism and its stochastic nature in discovering/identifying excited states or excited-state processes in situations when the knowledge about the true configurational structure of a sought after excited state is limited or postulated (due to the specific physics driving excited-state processes of interest). In this context, we can view the QPE algorithm as an engine for verifying various hypotheses for excited-state processes and providing statistically meaningful results that correspond to the electronic state(s) with the largest overlap with a postulated configurational structure. We illustrate these ideas on examples of strongly cor- related molecular systems, characterized by small energy gaps and high density of quasi-degenerate states around the Fermi level.

quantum chemistry, quantum computing, computationa↗

How Well Can Quantum Embedding Method Predict the Reaction Profiles for Hydrogenation of Small Li Clusters?

Quantum computing leverages the principles of quantum mechanics in novel ways to tackle complex chemistry problems that cannot be accurately addressed using traditional quantum chemistry methods. However, the high computational cost and available number of physical qubits with high fidelity limit its application to small chemical systems. This work employed a quantum-classical framework which features a quantum active space-embedding approach to perform simulations of chemical reactions that require up to 14 qubits. This framework was applied to prototypical example metal hydrogenation reactions: the coupling between hydrogen and Li 2 , Li 3 , and Li 4 clusters. Particular attention was paid to the computation of barriers and reaction energies. The predicted reaction profiles compare well with advanced classical quantum chemistry methods, demonstrating the potential of the quantum embedding algorithm to map out reaction profiles of realistic gas-phase chemical reactions to ascertain qualitative energetic trends. Additionally, the predicted potential energy curves provide a benchmark to compare against both current and future quantum embedding approaches.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Noise-aware optimization in nominally identical manufacturing and measuring systems for high-throughput parallel workflows

Device-to-device variability in experimental noise critically impacts reproducibility, especially in automated, high-throughput systems like additive manufacturing farms. While manageable in small labs, such variability can escalate into serious risks at larger scales, such as architectural 3D printing, where noise may cause structural or economic failures. This contribution presents a noise-aware decision-making algorithm that quantifies and models device-specific noise profiles to manage variability adaptively. It uses distributional analysis and pairwise divergence metrics with clustering to choose between single-device and robust multi-device Bayesian optimization strategies. Unlike conventional methods that assume homogeneous devices or enforce generic robustness, the proposed framework explicitly determines whether shared optimization across devices is appropriate based on the degree of inter-device noise heterogeneity. This enables improved performance, reproducibility, and efficiency. An experimental case study involving three nominally identical 3D printers (same brand, model, and close serial numbers) demonstrates reduced redundancy, lower resource usage, and improved reliability, along with improved convergence stability and solution quality through the selection of the appropriate optimization strategy based on the degree of inter-device noise heterogeneity. Overall, this framework establishes a general approach for precision- and resource-aware optimization in scalable, automated experimental platforms, demonstrated here on a representative multi-device 3D printing case study.

Schenk, Christina↗

Land surface dynamics and meteorological forcings modulate land surface temperature characteristics

This study examines the effect of land cover, vegetation health, climatic forcings, elevation heat loads, and terrain characteristics (LVCET) on land surface temperature (LST) distribution over West Africa (WA). We employ fourteen machine-learning models, which preserve nonlinear relationships, to downscale LST and other predictands while preserving the geographical variability of WA. Our results showed that the random forest model performs best in downscaling predictands. This is important for the sub-region since it has limited access to mainframes to power multiplex machine-learning algorithms. In contrast to the northern regions, the southern regions consistently exhibit healthy vegetation. Also, areas with unhealthy vegetation coincide with hot LST clusters. The positive Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) trends in the Sahel underscore rainfall recovery and subsequent Sahelian greening. The southwesterly winds cause the upwelling of cold waters, lowering LST in southern WA and highlighting the cooling influence of water bodies on LST. Identifying regions with elevated LST is paramount for prioritizing greening initiatives, and our study underscores the importance of considering LVCET factors in urban planning. Topographic slope-facing angles, heat loads, and diurnal anisotropic heat all contribute to variations in LST, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach when designing resilient and sustainable landscapes.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Red Dragon: a redshift-evolving Gaussian mixture model for galaxies

ABSTRACT Precision-era optical cluster cosmology calls for a precise definition of the red sequence (RS), consistent across redshift. To this end, we present the Red Dragon algorithm: an error-corrected multivariate Gaussian mixture model (GMM). Simultaneous use of multiple colours and smooth evolution of GMM parameters result in a continuous RS and blue cloud (BC) characterization across redshift, avoiding the discontinuities of red fraction inherent in swapping RS selection colours. Based on a mid-redshift spectroscopic sample of SDSS galaxies, an RS defined by Red Dragon selects quiescent galaxies (low specific star formation rate) with a balanced accuracy of over $90{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$. This approach to galaxy population assignment gives more natural separations between RS and BC galaxies than hard cuts in colour–magnitude or colour–colour spaces. The Red Dragon algorithm is publicly available at bitbucket.org/wkblack/red-dragon-gamma/.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

FedEFsz: Fair Cross-Silo Federated Learning System With Error-Bounded Lossy Compression

Cross-Silo federated learning systems have been identified as an efficient approach to scaling DNN training across geographically-distributed data silos to preserve the privacy of the training data. Communication efficiency and fairness are two major issues that need to be both satisfied when federated learning systems are deployed in practice. Simultaneously guaranteeing both of them, however, is exceptionally difficult because simply combining communication reduction and fairness optimization approaches often causes non-converged training or drastic accuracy degradation. Here, to bridge this gap, we propose FedEFsz. On the one hand, it integrates the state-of-the-art error-bounded lossy compressor SZ3 into cross-silo federated learning systems to significantly reduce communication traffic during the training. On the other hand, it achieves a high fairness (i.e., rather consistent model accuracy and performance across different clients) through a carefully designed heuristic algorithm that can tune the error-bound of SZ3 for different clients during the training. Extensive experimental results based on a GPU cluster with 65 GPU cards show that FedEFsz improves the fairness across different benchmarks by up to 60.88% and meanwhile reduces the communication traffic by up to 315×.

Cross-Silo Federated Learning Systems↗

Science Validation for Dark Energy Research with Optical Imaging Surveys

The Universe has been expanding at an accelerating rate over the past several billion years, as though an unknown form of dark energy permeates all of space. The ultimate scientific goal of the proposed research is to distinguish between different physical mechanisms that could account for this observed accelerated expansion, for example, the zero-point energy of the vacuum, a dynamical form of energy that varies in time and/or space, or a modification to our theory of gravity. Wide- field optical imaging surveys of the night sky can test these competing models by measuring both the cosmic expansion history and the growth of large-scale structure. To this end, the Dark Energy Survey (DES) has cataloged several hundred million galaxies and thousands of supernovae. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), will enlarge the census to billions of galaxies and hundreds of thousands of supernovae. A critical question for these dark energy experiments is whether systematic uncertainties can continue to be controlled at a level to keep pace with the statistical precision offered by such enormous datasets. The immediate research objectives of this project were (1) to prepare and validate input datasets that are the foundation of cosmological analyses with DES, and (2) to prepare for value-added characterization of Rubin Observatory commissioning data to inform early operations and accelerate the realization of dark energy science from LSST data products. For DES, we assembled and curated cosmology-ready data releases that include value-added components such as enhanced photometric and astrometric calibrations, alternative source extraction algorithms, maps of the survey coverage and survey conditions, object classifications, object quality selections, galaxy shapes, and photometric redshifts. We used the galaxy clustering technique to validate the photometric redshift distributions of various galaxy samples to be used as lenses in combined studies of galaxy clustering and weak gravitational lensing. The galaxy clustering redshift analysis was enhanced by use of a larger sample of reference galaxies from the eBOSS spectroscopic survey that extends to higher redshifts. For LSST, we prepared for science validation studies of commissioning data aimed at dark energy science capability that extend beyond the normative system-level tests to be done by the Rubin Observatory Construction Project. We identified a set of proposed survey strategies and candidate target fields that could be observed during the commissioning period to enhance science validation activities related to studies of dark energy.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Numerical solution of transonic wing flows using an Euler/Navier-Stokes zonal approach

Transonic flow fields about wing geometries are computed using an Euler/Navier-Stokes approach in which the flow field is divided into several zones. The grid zones immediately adjacent to the wing surface are suitably clustered and solved with the Navier-Stokes equations. Grid zones removed from the wing are less finely clustered and are solved with the Euler equations. Wind tunnel wall effects are easily and accurately modeled with the new grid-zoning algorithm because the wind tunnel grid is constructed as an exact subset of the corresponding free-air grid. Solutions are obtained that are in good agreement with experiment, including cases with significant wind tunnel wall effects and shock-induced separation on the upper wing surface.

Holst, T. L.↗

Aerodynamics of Engine-Airframe Interaction

The report describes progress in research directed towards the efficient solution of the inviscid Euler and Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for transonic flows through engine inlets, and past complete aircraft configurations, with emphasis on the flowfields in the vicinity of engine inlets. The research focusses upon the development of solution-adaptive grid procedures for these problems, and the development of multi-grid algorithms in conjunction with both, implicit and explicit time-stepping schemes for the solution of three-dimensional problems. The work includes further development of mesh systems suitable for inlet and wing-fuselage-inlet geometries using a variational approach. Work during this reporting period concentrated upon two-dimensional problems, and has been in two general areas: (1) the development of solution-adaptive procedures to cluster the grid cells in regions of high (truncation) error;and (2) the development of a multigrid scheme for solution of the two-dimensional Euler equations using a diagonalized alternating direction implicit (ADI) smoothing algorithm.

Caughey, D. A.↗