ALICE

Communication software for the major research project ALICE at CERN in Geneva

If you want to know more about the origin of the universe, you have to recreate the situation shortly after the Big Bang. To achieve this, an underground ring of tunnels with a circumference of 27 km was built at CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire).

Since 1954, physicists at CERN have been trying to decode the "structure of all being" in its smallest dimensions. ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is one of many detectors of the hadron accelerator LHC (Large Hadron Collider) developed at CERN. This detector is optimized for heavy ion collisions.

The task of the ZTT was to develop software for the detectors. This software is able to monitor the functionality of all equipment and at the same time guarantee a high degree of stability and security. The data must be passed on to those who control the experiment so that, in case of doubt, immediate measures can be taken to secure the experiment. In addition, the software must run for years without any maintenance and be able to intercept malfunctions - such as those caused by radiation.

In close cooperation with the working groups of Prof. Dr. Dieter Röhrich (University of Bergen, Norway) and Prof. Dr. Volker Lindenstruth (Kirchhoff Institute for Physics, Heidelberg) developed the communication software for the CERN project.

The ZTT's contribution to the CERN project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The ZTT has been a full member of CERN in Geneva since March 2003.