MLIT scientists’ results presented at SPD collaboration meeting On 20–23 October 2025, the JINR Veksler and Baldin Laboratory of High Energy Physics hosted the X anniversary meeting of the international collaboration of the SPD (Spin Physics Detector) experiment at the NICA collider. Throughout four days, over 200 scientists discussed key issues related to the experiment’s physics program and the facility’s current state, as well as the development of the computing infrastructure, which is being created and supported by specialists from the Meshcheryakov Laboratory of Information Technologies. The meeting was dedicated to the significant date for particle physics, the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the spin concept. JINR Vice-Director Vladimir Kekelidze welcomed the participants, highlighting the importance of the SPD experiment for the global physics community. On the first day of the meeting, MLIT Senior Researcher, SPD Computing and Software Coordinator Danila Oleynik delivered a talk. He pointed out that significant progress had been achieved in several areas at the current stage. Application software is being developed: active work to create and enhance the experiment’s fundamental tools, such as SPD Geomodel and the Sampo framework, is underway. At the same time, a concept for the development of the data processing system, which will take into account the specific organization of experimental data into so-called time slices, is being worked out. A geographically distributed system designed for storing and analyzing large volumes of experimental data is being successfully operated and expanded. The primary data processing system is being developed: the hardware component of the SPD Online Filter prototype is being gradually put into operation. New information services for collaboration participants, “Production requests DB” and “Collaboration members DB”, have been introduced to optimize work processes. “The Laboratory of Information Technologies’ considerable contribution to the success of the SPD project is particularly noteworthy, it embraces not only the provision and support of computing resources, but also the direct development, maintenance, and operation of critical middleware complexes,” Danila Oleynik emphasized. MLIT Senior Researcher, SPD Deputy Computing and Software Coordinator Artem Petrosyan reported that since the previous collaboration meeting (May 2025), the SPD experiment’s computing network had been enlarged with the launch of a new data center in Samara, and the integration of a cluster in St. Petersburg was in the final stage. This work has made it possible to significantly enhance the experiment’s overall computing power. Within the infrastructure development, a centralized system for managing computing requests has been successfully deployed and put into test operation, and comprehensive task execution monitoring has been introduced. Substantial progress has been made in modeling: approximately 50 large-scale computing sessions, the results of which are crucial for preparing experimental data-taking, have been performed over six months. Our immediate plans include the optimization of computing processes, the enhancement of the overall operational efficiency, and the integration of new partner centers for distributed SPD data storage and analysis. MLIT trainee researchers also delivered talks at the meeting. Alexey Konak reported on the status of work on the Rucio distributed data management system. Nikita Greben spoke about the development and plans for the enhancement of the SPD Online Filter middleware, a hardware and software complex for the high-throughput processing of primary data.
