Accelerating Dust Temperature Calculations with Graphics Processing Units
arXiv:0907.3768 · doi:10.1016/j.newast.2009.12.008
Abstract
When calculating the infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies in radiation-transfer models, the calculation of dust grain temperatures is generally the most time-consuming part of the calculation. Because of its highly parallel nature, this calculation is perfectly suited for massively parallel general-purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). This paper presents an implementation of the calculation of dust grain equilibrium temperatures on GPUs in the Monte-Carlo radiation transfer code Sunrise, using the CUDA API. The GPU can perform this calculation 69 times faster than the 8 CPU cores, showing great potential for accelerating calculations of galaxy SEDs.
7 pages, 2 figures, accepted to New Astronomy. Minor updates to text and performance based on feedback from referee