SCYON Abstract

Received on September 10 2012

GPU-Accelerated Monte Carlo Simulations of Dense Stellar Systems

Authors	B. Pattabiraman, S. Umbreit, W. Liao, F. Rasio, V. Kalogera, and A. Choudhary
Affiliation	Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) & Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Rd, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
To appear in	ASP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 453. Edited by R. Capuzzo-Dolcetta, M. Limongi, and A. Tornambè. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2012., p.329
Contact	Bharath Pattabiraman
URL	http://aspbooks.org/custom/publications/paper/453-0329.html
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Abstract

Computing the interactions between the stars within dense stellar clusters is a problem of fundamental importance in theoretical astrophysics. However, simulating realistic sized clusters of about 10⁶ stars is computationally intensive and often takes a long time to complete. This paper presents the acceleration of a Monte Carlo algorithm for simulating stellar cluster evolution using programmable Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). This acceleration allows to explore physical regimes which were out of reach of current simulations.