
Cosmic particles wreaking low-grade havoc on personal electronics - mkingston
https://phys.org/news/2017-02-particles-outer-space-wreaking-low-grade.html
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RandomOpinion
Another paper from 2013 also touched on cosmic radiation as a cause when
attempting to quantify differences in transient error rates in memory based on
the location of the machine.

From the PC World writeup
([http://www.pcworld.com/article/2066220/sc13-elevation-
plays-...](http://www.pcworld.com/article/2066220/sc13-elevation-plays-a-role-
in-memory-error-rates.html) ): " _In a field study of two high-performance
computers, the researchers found that L2 and L3 caches had more transient
errors on the supercomputer located at a higher altitude, compared with the
one closer to sea level. They attributed the disparity largely to lower air
pressure and higher cosmic ray-induced neutron strikes._ "

The paper itself:
[http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2503210.2503257](http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2503210.2503257)
One can find copies of the paper online simply by searching for its title.

Both the that and the phys.org article are a good reminder that the
unconscious assumption that many software developers hold that the hardware is
100% reliable and deterministic is not (and never was) true.

