401 research outputs found
Scaling Monte Carlo Tree Search on Intel Xeon Phi
Many algorithms have been parallelized successfully on the Intel Xeon Phi
coprocessor, especially those with regular, balanced, and predictable data
access patterns and instruction flows. Irregular and unbalanced algorithms are
harder to parallelize efficiently. They are, for instance, present in
artificial intelligence search algorithms such as Monte Carlo Tree Search
(MCTS). In this paper we study the scaling behavior of MCTS, on a highly
optimized real-world application, on real hardware. The Intel Xeon Phi allows
shared memory scaling studies up to 61 cores and 244 hardware threads. We
compare work-stealing (Cilk Plus and TBB) and work-sharing (FIFO scheduling)
approaches. Interestingly, we find that a straightforward thread pool with a
work-sharing FIFO queue shows the best performance. A crucial element for this
high performance is the controlling of the grain size, an approach that we call
Grain Size Controlled Parallel MCTS. Our subsequent comparing with the Xeon
CPUs shows an even more comprehensible distinction in performance between
different threading libraries. We achieve, to the best of our knowledge, the
fastest implementation of a parallel MCTS on the 61 core Intel Xeon Phi using a
real application (47 relative to a sequential run).Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure
Galactos: Computing the Anisotropic 3-Point Correlation Function for 2 Billion Galaxies
The nature of dark energy and the complete theory of gravity are two central
questions currently facing cosmology. A vital tool for addressing them is the
3-point correlation function (3PCF), which probes deviations from a spatially
random distribution of galaxies. However, the 3PCF's formidable computational
expense has prevented its application to astronomical surveys comprising
millions to billions of galaxies. We present Galactos, a high-performance
implementation of a novel, O(N^2) algorithm that uses a load-balanced k-d tree
and spherical harmonic expansions to compute the anisotropic 3PCF. Our
implementation is optimized for the Intel Xeon Phi architecture, exploiting
SIMD parallelism, instruction and thread concurrency, and significant L1 and L2
cache reuse, reaching 39% of peak performance on a single node. Galactos scales
to the full Cori system, achieving 9.8PF (peak) and 5.06PF (sustained) across
9636 nodes, making the 3PCF easily computable for all galaxies in the
observable universe.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted to SuperComputing 201
Computing for Perturbative QCD - A Snowmass White Paper
We present a study on high-performance computing and large-scale distributed
computing for perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 21 pages, 5 table
Structured parallel programming for Monte Carlo Tree Search
The thesis is part of a bigger project, the HEPGAME (High Energy Physics Game). The main objective for HEPGAME is the utilization of AI solutions, particularly by using MCTS for simplification of HEP calculations. One of the issues is solving mathematical expressions of interest with millions of terms. These calculations can be solved with the FORM program, which is software for symbolic manipulation. Since these calculations are computationally intensive and take a large amount of time, the FORM program was parallelized to solve them in a reasonable amount of time.Therefore, any new algorithm based on MCTS, should also be parallelized. This requirement was behind the problem statement of the thesis: “How do we design a structured pattern-based parallel programming approach for efficient parallelism of MCTS for both multi-core and manycore shared-memory machines?”.To answer this question, the thesis approached the MCTS parallelization problem in three levels: (1) implementation level, (2) data structure level, and (3) algorithm level.In the implementation level, we proposed task-level parallelization over thread-level parallelization. Task-level parallelization provides us with efficient parallelism for MCTS to utilize cores on both multi-core and manycore machines.In the data structure level, we presented a lock-free data structure that guarantees the correctness. A lock-free data structure (1) removes the synchronization overhead when a parallel program needs many tasks to feed its cores and (2) improves both performance and scalability.In the algorithm level, we first explained how to use pipeline pattern for parallelization of MCTS to overcome search overhead. Then, through a step by step approach, we were able to propose and detail the structured parallel programming approach for Monte Carlo Tree Search.Algorithms and the Foundations of Software technolog
Study of Condensed Matter Systems with Monte Carlo Simulation on Heterogeneous Computing Systems
We study the Edwards-Anderson model on a simple cubic lattice with a finite constant external field. We employ an indicator composed of a ratio of susceptibilities at finite momenta, which was recently proposed to avoid the difficulties of a zero momentum quantity, for capturing the spin glass phase transition. Unfortunately, this new indicator is fairly noisy, so a large pool of samples at low temperature and small external field are needed to generate results with a sufficiently small statistical error for analysis. We thus implement the Monte Carlo method using graphics processing units to drastically speed up the simulation. We confirm previous findings that conventional indicators for the spin glass transition, including the Binder ratio and the correlation length do not show any indication of a transition for rather low temperatures. However, the ratio of spin glass susceptibilities does show crossing behavior, albeit a systematic analysis is beyond the reach of the present data. This reveals the difficulty with current numerical methods and computing capability in studying this problem. One of the fundamental challenges of theoretical condensed matter physics is the accurate solution of quantum impurity models. By taking expansion in the hybridization about an exactly solved local limit, one can formulate a quantum impurity solver. We implement the hybridization expansion quantum impurity solver on Intel Xeon Phi accelerators, and aim to apply this approach on the Dynamic Hubbard Models
Optimization of high-throughput real-time processes in physics reconstruction
La presente tesis se ha desarrollado en colaboración entre
la Universidad de Sevilla y la Organización Europea para la
Investigación Nuclear, CERN.
El detector LHCb es uno de los cuatro grandes detectores
situados en el Gran Colisionador de Hadrones, LHC. En LHCb,
se colisionan partículas a altas energías para comprender la
diferencia existente entre la materia y la antimateria. Debido a la
cantidad ingente de datos generada por el detector, es necesario
realizar un filtrado de datos en tiempo real, fundamentado en
los conocimientos actuales recogidos en el Modelo Estándar de
física de partículas. El filtrado, también conocido como High
Level Trigger, deberá procesar un throughput de 40 Tb/s de datos,
y realizar un filtrado de aproximadamente 1 000:1, reduciendo
el throughput a unos 40 Gb/s de salida, que se almacenan para
posterior análisis.
El proceso del High Level Trigger se subdivide a su vez en
dos etapas: High Level Trigger 1 (HLT1) y High Level Trigger
2 (HLT2). El HLT1 transcurre en tiempo real, y realiza una reducción de datos de aproximadamente 30:1. El HLT1 consiste
en una serie de procesos software que reconstruyen lo que ha
sucedido en la colisión de partículas. En la reconstrucción del
HLT1 únicamente se analizan las trayectorias de las partículas
producidas fruto de la colisión, en un problema conocido como
reconstrucción de trazas, para dictaminar el interés de las colisiones.
Por contra, el proceso HLT2 es más fino, requiriendo más
tiempo en realizarse y reconstruyendo todos los subdetectores
que componen LHCb.
Hacia 2020, el detector LHCb, así como todos los componentes
del sistema de adquisici´on de datos, serán actualizados acorde
a los últimos desarrollos técnicos. Como parte del sistema
de adquisición de datos, los servidores que procesan HLT1 y
HLT2 también sufrirán una actualización. Al mismo tiempo, el
acelerador LHC será también actualizado, de manera que la
cantidad de datos generada en cada cruce de grupo de partículas
aumentare en aproxidamente 5 veces la actual. Debido a
las actualizaciones tanto del acelerador como del detector, se
prevé que la cantidad de datos que deberá procesar el HLT en
su totalidad sea unas 40 veces mayor a la actual.
La previsión de la escalabilidad del software actual a 2020
subestim´ó los recursos necesarios para hacer frente al incremento
en throughput. Esto produjo que se pusiera en marcha un
estudio de todos los algoritmos tanto del HLT1 como del HLT2,
así como una actualización del código a nuevos estándares, para
mejorar su rendimiento y ser capaz de procesar la cantidad de
datos esperada.
En esta tesis, se exploran varios algoritmos de la reconstrucción de LHCb. El problema de reconstrucción de trazas se analiza
en profundidad y se proponen nuevos algoritmos para su
resolución. Ya que los problemas analizados exhiben un paralelismo
masivo, estos algoritmos se implementan en lenguajes
especializados para tarjetas gráficas modernas (GPUs), dada su
arquitectura inherentemente paralela. En este trabajo se dise ˜nan
dos algoritmos de reconstrucción de trazas. Además, se diseñan
adicionalmente cuatro algoritmos de decodificación y un algoritmo
de clustering, problemas también encontrados en el HLT1.
Por otra parte, se diseña un algoritmo para el filtrado de Kalman,
que puede ser utilizado en ambas etapas.
Los algoritmos desarrollados cumplen con los requisitos esperados
por la colaboración LHCb para el año 2020. Para poder
ejecutar los algoritmos eficientemente en tarjetas gráficas, se
desarrolla un framework especializado para GPUs, que permite
la ejecución paralela de secuencias de reconstrucción en GPUs.
Combinando los algoritmos desarrollados con el framework, se
completa una secuencia de ejecución que asienta las bases para
un HLT1 ejecutable en GPU.
Durante la investigación llevada a cabo en esta tesis, y gracias
a los desarrollos arriba mencionados y a la colaboración de
un pequeño equipo de personas coordinado por el autor, se
completa un HLT1 ejecutable en GPUs. El rendimiento obtenido
en GPUs, producto de esta tesis, permite hacer frente al reto de
ejecutar una secuencia de reconstrucción en tiempo real, bajo
las condiciones actualizadas de LHCb previstas para 2020. As´ı
mismo, se completa por primera vez para cualquier experimento
del LHC un High Level Trigger que se ejecuta únicamente en
GPUs. Finalmente, se detallan varias posibles configuraciones
para incluir tarjetas gr´aficas en el sistema de adquisición de
datos de LHCb.The current thesis has been developed in collaboration between
Universidad de Sevilla and the European Organization for Nuclear
Research, CERN.
The LHCb detector is one of four big detectors placed alongside
the Large Hadron Collider, LHC. In LHCb, particles are
collided at high energies in order to understand the difference
between matter and antimatter. Due to the massive quantity
of data generated by the detector, it is necessary to filter data
in real-time. The filtering, also known as High Level Trigger,
processes a throughput of 40 Tb/s of data and performs a selection
of approximately 1 000:1. The throughput is thus reduced
to roughly 40 Gb/s of data output, which is then stored for
posterior analysis.
The High Level Trigger process is subdivided into two stages:
High Level Trigger 1 (HLT1) and High Level Trigger 2 (HLT2).
HLT1 occurs in real-time, and yields a reduction of data of approximately
30:1. HLT1 consists in a series of software processes
that reconstruct particle collisions. The HLT1 reconstruction only
analyzes the trajectories of particles produced at the collision,
solving a problem known as track reconstruction, that determines
whether the collision data is kept or discarded. In contrast,
HLT2 is a finer process, which requires more time to execute
and reconstructs all subdetectors composing LHCb.
Towards 2020, the LHCb detector and all the components
composing the data acquisition system will be upgraded. As
part of the data acquisition system, the servers that process
HLT1 and HLT2 will also be upgraded. In addition, the LHC
accelerator will also be updated, increasing the data generated in
every bunch crossing by roughly 5 times. Due to the accelerator
and detector upgrades, the amount of data that the HLT will
require to process is expected to increase by 40 times.
The foreseen scalability of the software through 2020 underestimated
the required resources to face the increase in data
throughput. As a consequence, studies of all algorithms composing
HLT1 and HLT2 and code modernizations were carried
out, in order to obtain a better performance and increase the
processing capability of the foreseen hardware resources in the
upgrade.
In this thesis, several algorithms of the LHCb recontruction
are explored. The track reconstruction problem is analyzed
in depth, and new algorithms are proposed. Since the analyzed
problems are massively parallel, these algorithms are implemented
in specialized languages for modern graphics cards
(GPUs), due to their inherently parallel architecture. From this
work stem two algorithm designs. Furthermore, four additional
decoding algorithms and a clustering algorithms have been designed
and implemented, which are also part of HLT1. Apart
from that, an parallel Kalman filter algorithm has been designed
and implemented, which can be used in both HLT stages.
The developed algorithms satisfy the requirements of the
LHCb collaboration for the LHCb upgrade. In order to execute
the algorithms efficiently on GPUs, a software framework specialized
for GPUs is developed, which allows executing GPU
reconstruction sequences in parallel. Combining the developed
algorithms with the framework, an execution sequence is completed
as the foundations of a GPU HLT1.
During the research carried out in this thesis, the aforementioned
developments and a small group of collaborators coordinated
by the author lead to the completion of a full GPU
HLT1 sequence. The performance obtained on GPUs allows
executing a reconstruction sequence in real-time, under LHCb
upgrade conditions. The developed GPU HLT1 constitutes the
first GPU high level trigger ever developed for an LHC experiment.
Finally, various possible realizations of the GPU HLT1 to
integrate in a production GPU-equipped data acquisition system
are detailed
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