Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01ww72bb61x
 Title: Optimizing Performance of Three-Dimensional Astrophysical Plasma Simulations Authors: Hume, Allison Advisors: Spitkovsky, Anatoly Department: Astrophysical Sciences Class Year: 2013 Abstract: Particle-in-cell simulations of collisionless shocks have been shown to produce self-consistent shock acceleration of non-thermal particles, which are an important area of astrophysical research. A challenge that remains, however, is acquiring results from these simulations without a prohibitively long runtime. In this thesis we introduce the TRISTAN-MP simulation and examine methods of optimizing its performance. These methods include replacing multiple arrays of single precision values with one array of memory-aligned structures, precomputing coefficients that may be computed multiple times, and minimizing slow double precision calculations. We then discuss the local implementations of each optimization and present the resulting change in performance for each implementation. Finally, we discuss the optimizations that were selected for use in the full simulation and the full implementation of those optimizations. We show that the output of the optimized simulation maintains the properties of the original output and we find that running time is significantly reduced. Extent: 73 pages URI: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01ww72bb61x Access Restrictions: Walk-in Access. This thesis can only be viewed on computer terminals at the Mudd Manuscript Library. Type of Material: Princeton University Senior Theses Language: en_US Appears in Collections: Astrophysical Sciences, 1990-2017

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