Processing experimental data and analysis of simulation codes from Nuclear Physics using distributed and parallel computing

In this thesis we tried to show the impact of new technologies on scientific work in the large field of heavy ion physics and as a case study, we present the implementation of the event plane method, on a highly parallel technology: the graphic processor. By the end of the thesis, a comparison of the analysis results with the elliptic flow published by ALICE is made. In Chapter 1 we presented the computing needs at the heavy ion physics experiment ALICE and showed the current state of software and technologies. The new technologies available for some time, Chapter 2, present new performance capabilities and generated a trend in preparing for the new wave of technologies and software, which most indicators show will dominate the future. This was not disregarded by the scientific community and in consequence section 2.2 shows the rising interest in the new technologies by the High Energy Physics community. A real case study was needed to better understand how the new technologies can be applied in HEP and anisotropic flow in heavy ion collisions was my choice. An introduction to the theory of heavy ion physics and anisotropic flow is presented in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 is a brief overview of ALICE experiment and its detectors. The computing part of this thesis presented in Chapter 5, it was necessary to develop a few applications and some of them proved to be useful outside the scope of the subject of the thesis. Here I describe the development of an event viewer application for simulated data generated by UrQMD, section 5.3. This prototype application can be used for educational purposes. Chapter 6 presents the obtained results and discusses them based on comparison with the data publishedby ALICE experiment. Finally, the Chapter 7 contains a summary and the main conclusions of this thesis.