Using Grid Technology to solve a theoretical physics problem: Moduli Stabilization in String Theory

We use the Grid environment to seek a minimum for a potential function, coming from the physics of string theory, involving many parameters. This 'parallel' computing helps to reduce the time of computation enormously. One run, when fixing the different parameters in the function, lasts for between 3 to 20 hours, and hence the application needs, when run on one machine and changing the parameters in the given allowable regions, some years to span the whole parameter space. However, implementing the AXIOM software on many Grid nodes helps to carry out this task far faster. Initial results show the possibility of finding acceptable minima, voire testing the validity of the theoretical model.