Odyssey: A Public GPU-Based Code for General-Relativistic Radiative Transfer in Kerr Spacetime

Abstract

General-relativistic radiative transfer (GRRT) calculations coupled with the calculation of geodesics in the Kerr spacetime are an essential tool for determining the images, spectra and light curves from matter in the vicinity of black holes. Such studies are especially important for ongoing and upcoming millimeter/submillimeter (mm/sub-mm) Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations of the supermassive black holes at the centres of Sgr A^{*} and M87. To this end we introduce Odyssey, a Graphics Processing Unit(GPU)-based code for ray tracing and radiative transfer in the Kerr spacetime. On a single GPU, the performance of Odyssey can exceed 1 nanosecond per photon, per Runge-Kutta integration step. Odyssey is publicly available, fast, accurate, and flexible enough to be modified to suit the specific needs of new users. Along with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) powered by a video-accelerated display architecture, we also present an educational software tool, Odyssey_Edu, for showing in real time how null geodesics around a Kerr black hole vary as a function of black hole spin and angle of incidence onto the black hole.

12 pages, 12 figures. Websites are ready for downloading the source code (Odyssey) and the educational software (Odyssey_Edu). Accepted by ApJ

References in corpus (12)

• Event-horizon-scale structure in the supermassive black hole candidate at the Galactic Centre
• Jet Launching Structure Resolved Near the Supermassive Black Hole in M87
• Alignment of Magnetized Accretion Disks and Relativistic Jets with Spinning Black Holes
• Observational appearance of inefficient accretion flows and jets in 3D GRMHD simulations: Application to Sgr~A*
• Plasma diagnostic potential of 2p4f in N${}^{+}$ -- accurate wavelengths and oscillator strengths
• The Power of Imaging: Constraining the Plasma Properties of GRMHD Simulations using EHT Observations of Sgr A*
• Radio and Millimeter Monitoring of Sgr A*: Spectrum, Variability, and Constraints on the G2 Encounter
• 230 GHz VLBI observations of M87: event-horizon-scale structure at the enhanced very-high-energy $\gamma$-ray state in 2012
• Steady General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Inflow/Outflow Solution along Large-Scale Magnetic Fields that Thread a Rotating Black Hole
• Line emission from optically thick relativistic accretion tori
• Light Echoes in Kerr Geometry: A Source of High Frequency QPOs from Random X-ray Bursts
• Greenland Telescope Project --- Direct Confirmation of Black Hole with Sub-millimeter VLBI

Cited by in corpus (39)

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• The Black Hole Accretion Code
• A ring-like accretion structure in M87 connecting its black hole and jet
• Comparison of the ion-to-electron temperature ratio prescription: GRMHD simulations with electron thermodynamics
• The Effects of Accretion Flow Dynamics on the Black Hole Shadow of Sagittarius A${}^{\ast }$
• Radiation from rapidly rotating oblate neutron stars
• Generalized, energy-conserving numerical simulations of particles in general relativity. I. Time-like and null geodesics
• Probing the innermost accretion flow geometry of Sgr A* with Event Horizon Telescope
• GRMHD Simulations and Modeling for Jet Formation and Acceleration Region in AGNs
• Black Hole Spin Signature in the Black Hole Shadow of M87 in the Flaring State
• Spatial dispersion of light rays propagating through a plasma in Kerr spacetime
• Pulsar timing in extreme mass ratio binaries: a general relativistic approach
• Explicit symplectic methods in black hole spacetimes
• GRay2: A General Purpose Geodesic Integrator for Kerr Spacetimes
• Comparison of Polarized Radiative Transfer Codes used by the EHT Collaboration
• Black hole fusion in the extreme mass ratio limit
• A Mechanism for Triple-Ridge Emission Structure of AGN Jets
• The Role of Adaptive Ray Tracing in Analyzing Black Hole Structure
• Observable Emission Features of Black Hole GRMHD Jets on Event Horizon Scales
• Black Hole Shadow with Soft Hair
• Blacklight: A General-Relativistic Ray-Tracing and Analysis Tool
• RAIKOU: A General Relativistic, Multi-wavelength Radiative Transfer Code
• Parameter study for hot spot trajectories around Sgr$A\ast$
• Simulations of recoiling black holes: adaptive mesh refinement and radiative transfer
• Explicit symplectic integrators with adaptive time steps in curved spacetimes
• Prospects for ray-tracing light intensity and polarization in models of accreting compact objects using a GPU
• Approaching the black hole by numerical simulations
• Vacuum Spacetime With Multipole Moments: The Minimal Size Conjecture, Black Hole Shadow, and Gravitational Wave Observables
• Observational features of reflection asymmetric black holes
• Particle dynamics in spherically symmetric electro-vacuum instantons
• GALLIFRAY -- A geometric modeling and parameter estimation framework for black hole images using bayesian techniques
• Radiative properties of thin accretion disks around rotating short-hairy black holes
• Synthetic gravitational lens image of the Sagittarius A${}^{\ast }$ black hole with a thin disk model
• The immediate environment of an astrophysical black hole
• $\text{Jipole}$: A Differentiable $\text{ipole}$-based Code for Radiative Transfer in Curved Spacetimes
• Nonuniform Particle Injection into Black Hole Jets by Radiative Magnetic Reconnection
• Motion equations in a Kerr-Newman-de Sitter spacetime: some methods of integration and application to black holes shadowing in Scilab
• Sensitivities of Black Hole Images from GRMHD Simulations
• Shadows and photon spheres of static black holes embedded in a Dehnen-(1,4,5/2)-type dark matter halo with a quintessential field