Exploring the Formation of Resistive Pseudodisks with the GPU Code Astaroth

Pseudodisks are dense structures formed perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field during the gravitational collapse of a molecular cloud core. Numerical simulations of the formation of pseudodisks are usually computationally expensive with conventional CPU codes. To demonstrate the proof-of-concept of a fast computing method for this numerically costly problem, we explore the GPU-powered MHD code Astaroth, a 6th-order finite difference method with low adjustable finite resistivity implemented with sink particles. The formation of pseudodisks is physically and numerically robust and can be achieved with a simple and clean setup for this newly adopted numerical approach for science verification. The method's potential is illustrated by evidencing the dependence on the initial magnetic field strength of specific physical features accompanying the formation of pseudodisks, e.g. the occurrence of infall shocks and the variable behavior of the mass and magnetic flux accreted on the central object. As a performance test, we measure both weak and strong scaling of our implementation to find most efficient way to use the code on a multi-GPU system. Once suitable physics and problem-specific implementations are realized, the GPU-accelerated code is an efficient option for 3-D magnetized collapse problems.Comment: 29 pages, 1 table, 15 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Scalable communication for high-order stencil computations using CUDA-aware MPI

Modern compute nodes in high-performance computing provide a tremendous level of parallelism and processing power. However, as arithmetic performance has been observed to increase at a faster rate relative to memory and network bandwidths, optimizing data movement has become critical for achieving strong scaling in many communication-heavy applications. This performance gap has been further accentuated with the introduction of graphics processing units, which can provide by multiple factors higher throughput in data-parallel tasks than central processing units. In this work, we explore the computational aspects of iterative stencil loops and implement a generic communication scheme using CUDA-aware MPI, which we use to accelerate magnetohydrodynamics simulations based on high-order finite differences and third-order Runge-Kutta integration. We put particular focus on improving intra-node locality of workloads. In comparison to a theoretical performance model, our implementation exhibits strong scaling from one to $64$ devices at $50\%$--$87\%$ efficiency in sixth-order stencil computations when the problem domain consists of $256^3$--$1024^3$ cells.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figure

Interaction of large- and small-scale dynamos in isotropic turbulent flows from GPU-accelerated simulations

Magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) dynamos emerge in many different astrophysical situations where turbulence is present, but the interaction between large-scale (LSD) and small-scale dynamos (SSD) is not fully understood. We performed a systematic study of turbulent dynamos driven by isotropic forcing in isothermal MHD with magnetic Prandtl number of unity, focusing on the exponential growth stage. Both helical and non-helical forcing was employed to separate the effects of LSD and SSD in a periodic domain. Reynolds numbers (Rm) up to $\approx 250$ were examined and multiple resolutions used for convergence checks. We ran our simulations with the Astaroth code, designed to accelerate 3D stencil computations on graphics processing units (GPUs) and to employ multiple GPUs with peer-to-peer communication. We observed a speedup of $\approx 35$ in single-node performance compared to the widely used multi-CPU MHD solver Pencil Code. We estimated the growth rates both from the averaged magnetic fields and their power spectra. At low Rm, LSD growth dominates, but at high Rm SSD appears to dominate in both helically and non-helically forced cases. Pure SSD growth rates follow a logarithmic scaling as a function of Rm. Probability density functions of the magnetic field from the growth stage exhibit SSD behaviour in helically forced cases even at intermediate Rm. We estimated mean-field turbulence transport coefficients using closures like the second-order correlation approximation (SOCA). They yield growth rates similar to the directly measured ones and provide evidence of $\alpha$ quenching. Our results are consistent with the SSD inhibiting the growth of the LSD at moderate Rm, while the dynamo growth is enhanced at higher Rm.Comment: 22 pages, 23 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Modular Equations and Distortion Functions

Modular equations occur in number theory, but it is less known that such equations also occur in the study of deformation properties of quasiconformal mappings. The authors study two important plane quasiconformal distortion functions, obtaining monotonicity and convexity properties, and finding sharp bounds for them. Applications are provided that relate to the quasiconformal Schwarz Lemma and to Schottky's Theorem. These results also yield new bounds for singular values of complete elliptic integrals.Comment: 23 page

Two ideals connected with strong right upper porosity at a point

Let $SP$ be the set of upper strongly porous at $0$ subsets of $\mathbb R^{+}$ and let $\hat I(SP)$ be the intersection of maximal ideals $I \subseteq SP$. Some characteristic properties of sets $E\in\hat I(SP)$ are obtained. It is shown that the ideal generated by the so-called completely strongly porous at $0$ subsets of $\mathbb R^{+}$ is a proper subideal of $\hat I(SP).$Comment: 18 page

The supernova-regulated ISM : III. Generation of vorticity, helicity, and mean flows

Context. The forcing of interstellar turbulence, driven mainly by supernova (SN) explosions, is irrotational in nature, but the development of significant amounts of vorticity and helicity, accompanied by large-scale dynamo action, has been reported. Aims. Several earlier investigations examined vorticity production in simpler systems; here all the relevant processes can be considered simultaneously. We also investigate the mechanisms for the generation of net helicity and large-scale flow in the system. Methods. We use a three-dimensional, stratified, rotating and shearing local simulation domain of the size 1 x 1 x 2 kpc(3), forced with SN explosions occurring at a rate typical of the solar neighbourhood in the MilkyWay. In addition to the nominal simulation run with realistic Milky Way parameters, we vary the rotation and shear rates, but keep the absolute value of their ratio fixed. Reversing the sign of shear vs. rotation allows us to separate the rotation-and shear-generated contributions. Results. As in earlier studies, we find the generation of significant amounts of vorticity, the rotational flow comprising on average 65% of the total flow. The vorticity production can be related to the baroclinicity of the flow, especially in the regions of hot, dilute clustered supernova bubbles. In these regions, the vortex stretching acts as a sink of vorticity. In denser, compressed regions, the vortex stretching amplifies vorticity, but remains sub-dominant to baroclinicity. The net helicities produced by rotation and shear are of opposite signs for physically motivated rotation laws, with the solar neighbourhood parameters resulting in the near cancellation of the total net helicity. We also find the excitation of oscillatory mean flows, the strength and oscillation period of which depend on the Coriolis and shear parameters; we interpret these as signatures of the anisotropic-kinetic-alpha (AKA) effect. We use the method of moments to fit for the turbulent transport coefficients, and find alpha(AKA) values of the order 3-5 km s(-1). Conclusions. Even in a weakly rotationally and shear-influenced system, small-scale anisotropies can lead to significant effects at large scales. Here we report on two consequences of such effects, namely on the generation of net helicity and on the emergence of large-scale flows by the AKA effect, the latter detected for the first time in a direct numerical simulation of a realistic astrophysical system.Peer reviewe

3D mappings by generalized joukowski transformations

The classical Joukowski transformation plays an important role in di erent applications of conformal mappings, in particular in the study of ows around the so-called Joukowski airfoils. In the 1980s H. Haruki and M. Barran studied generalized Joukowski transformations of higher order in the complex plane from the view point of functional equations. The aim of our contribution is to study the analogue of those generalized Joukowski transformations in Euclidean spaces of arbitrary higher dimension by methods of hypercomplex analysis. They reveal new insights in the use of generalized holomorphic functions as tools for quasi-conformal mappings. The computational experiences focus on 3D-mappings of order 2 and their properties and visualizations for di erent geometric con gurations, but our approach is not restricted neither with respect to the dimension nor to the order.Financial support from "Center for Research and Development in Mathematics and Applications" of the University of Aveiro, through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), is gratefully acknowledged. The research of the first author was also supported by the FCT under the fellowship SFRH/BD/44999/2008. Moreover, the authors would like to thank the anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions which improved greatly the final manuscript

Quasisymmetric graphs and Zygmund functions

A quasisymmetric graph is a curve whose projection onto a line is a quasisymmetric map. We show that this class of curves is related to solutions of the reduced Beltrami equation and to a generalization of the Zygmund class $\Lambda_*$. This relation makes it possible to use the tools of harmonic analysis to construct nontrivial examples of quasisymmetric graphs and of quasiconformal maps.Comment: 21 pages, no figure