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Title: Applications of parallel supercomputers: Scientific results and computer science lessons

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5840815

Parallel Computing has come of age with several commercial and inhouse systems that deliver supercomputer performance. We illustrate this with several major computations completed or underway at Caltech on hypercubes, transputer arrays and the SIMD Connection Machine CM-2 and AMT DAP. Applications covered are lattice gauge theory, computational fluid dynamics, subatomic string dynamics, statistical and condensed matter physics,theoretical and experimental astronomy, quantum chemistry, plasma physics, grain dynamics, computer chess, graphics ray tracing, and Kalman filters. We use these applications to compare the performance of several advanced architecture computers including the conventional CRAY and ETA-10 supercomputers. We describe which problems are suitable for which computers in the terms of a matching between problem and computer architecture. This is part of a set of lessons we draw for hardware, software, and performance. We speculate on the emergence of new academic disciplines motivated by the growing importance of computers. 138 refs., 23 figs., 10 tabs.

Research Organization:
California Inst. of Tech., Pasadena, CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
FG03-85ER25009
OSTI ID:
5840815
Report Number(s):
DOE/ER/25009-806; CONF-8903158-1; ON: DE89016385
Resource Relation:
Conference: Inaugural symposium for Center for Science and Technology, Syracuse, NY, USA, 2 Mar 1989; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English