DESIGN OF THE CONDITION DATABASE FOR ONLINE AND OFFLINE DATA PROCESSING IN EXPERIMENTAL SETUPS OF THE NICA COMPLEX

Abstract

Storing, processing and analyzing of experimental and simulated data are an integral part of all modern high-energy physics experiments. These tasks are of particular importance in the experiments of the NICA project at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) due to the high interaction rate and particle multiplicity of ion collision events, therefore the task of automating the considered processes for the NICA complex has particular relevance. To solve the task, modern physics experiments use various information systems, which control experiment data flows and simultaneously service a large number of requests from various systems and collaboration members. The article describes the design of a new information system based on the Condition Database as well as related information services to automate storing and processing of data and information on the experiments. The Condition Database is aimed at storing, searching and using various parameters and operation modes of experiment systems. The system being implemented on the PostgreSQL DBMS will provide the information for event data processing and physics analysis and organize a transparent, unified access and data management throughout the life cycle of the scientific research. The article shows the scheme and purposes of the Condition Database and its attributes, key aspects of the design are highlighted. A place of the Condition Database in data processing flow is illustrated. The integration of the information system with experiment software systems is also presented. The development of the Condition Database interfaces has been started to use the stored information in event simulation, raw data processing, reconstruction and physics analysis tasks.