MPI_XSTAR: MPI-based Parallelization of the XSTAR Photoionization Program

Abstract

We describe a program for the parallel implementation of multiple runs of XSTAR, a photoionization code that is used to predict the physical properties of an ionized gas from its emission and/or absorption lines. The parallelization program, called MPI_XSTAR, has been developed and implemented in the C++ language by using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) protocol, a conventional standard of parallel computing. We have benchmarked parallel multiprocessing executions of XSTAR, using MPI_XSTAR, against a serial execution of XSTAR, in terms of the parallelization speedup and the computing resource efficiency. Our experience indicates that the parallel execution runs significantly faster than the serial execution, however, the efficiency in terms of the computing resource usage decreases with increasing the number of processors used in the parallel computing.

arXiv comment5 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (PASP)

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• The Ultra-Fast Outflow of the Quasar PG 1211+143 as Viewed by Time-Averaged Chandra Grating Spectroscopy
• A deep, multi-epoch Chandra HETG study of the ionized outflow from NGC 4051
• Origin of the complex iron line structure and spectral variation in Mrk 766
• Accretion-disk reflection in the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 3783 as viewed by Chandra grating spectroscopy