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At least 1,153 records · Page 64

A high-performance implementation of atomistic spin dynamics simulations on x86 CPUs

Atomistic spin dynamics simulations provide valuable information about the energy spectrum of magnetic materials in different phases, allowing one to identify instabilities and the nature of their excitations. However, the time cost of evaluating the dynamical correlation function S(q,t) increases quadratically as the number of spins N, leading to significant computational effort, making the simulation of large spin systems very challenging. In this work, here, we propose to use a highly optimized general matrix multiply (GEMM) subroutine to calculate the dynamical spin-spin correlation function that can achieve near-optimal hardware utilization. Furthermore, we fuse the element-wise operations in the calculation of S(q,t) into the in-house GEMM kernel, which results in further performance improvements of 44\% - 71\% on several relatively large lattice sizes when compared to the implementation that uses the GEMM subroutine in OpenBLAS, which is the state-of-the-art open source library for Basic Linear Algebra Subroutine (BLAS).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Computing the QRPA level density with the finite amplitude method

Here, we describe a new algorithm to calculate the vibrational nuclear level density of an atomic nucleus. Fictitious perturbation operators that probe the response of the system are generated by drawing their matrix elements from some probability distribution function. We use the Finite Amplitude Method to explicitly compute the response for each such sample. With the help of the Kernel Polynomial Method, we build an estimator of the vibrational level density and provide the upper bound of the relative error in the limit of infinitely many random samples. The new algorithm can give accurate estimates of the vibrational level density. Since it is based on drawing multiple samples of perturbation operators, its computational implementation is naturally parallel and scales like the number of available processing units.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

End-To-End Decentralized Transmission Line Protection in IBR-Dominated Weak Grids Using Interpretable Data-Driven Methods

Traditional transmission line protection relies on predictable synchronous-based fault signatures, which frequently fail under the non-standard, current-limited fault characteristics of Inverter-Based Resources (IBRs). This study investigates how to achieve secure, communication-free fault isolation in IBR-dominated weak grids without relying on opaque, computationally heavy "black-box" machine learning algorithms. To address this, we propose a novel, standalone, and inherently interpretable data-driven protection framework. Unlike centralized methods requiring multi-terminal communication, this decentralized approach relies solely on local measurements using a hierarchical linear-kernel Support Vector Machine (SVM). The methodology decomposes the protection task into four sequential stages that mimic traditional protection elements: fault detection and fault direction identification, fault type classification, zone classification, and location estimation. This multi-stage architecture allows for specialized feature engineering at each stage, combining high computational efficiency with logic traceability. The framework's end-to-end performance was validated via C-code and PSCAD/EMTDC co-simulation, utilizing a real-world utility network and an OEM black-box IBR model. The proposed relay achieves 97.2% overall accuracy and provides a reliable trip decision within a 2.5-cycle window. The results confirm 100% accuracy in fundamental fault detection, reliable zone selectivity across low to moderate fault resistances, and robust security against non-fault transients, proving its immediate viability for integration into commercial numerical relays.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Adjoint design sensitivity analysis of reduced atomic systems using generalized Langevin equation for lattice structures

An efficient adjoint design sensitivity analysis method is developed for reduced atomic systems. A reduced atomic system and the adjoint system are constructed in a locally confined region, utilizing generalized Langevin equation (GLE) for periodic lattice structures. Due to the translational symmetry of lattice structures, the size of time history kernel function that accounts for the boundary effects of the reduced atomic systems could be reduced to a single atom’s degrees of freedom. For the problems of highly nonlinear design variables, the finite difference method is impractical for its inefficiency and inaccuracy. However, the adjoint method is very efficient regardless of the number of design variables since one additional time integration is required for the adjoint GLE. Through numerical examples, the derived adjoint sensitivity turns out to be accurate and efficient through the comparison with finite difference sensitivity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

A high-order integral solver for scalar problems of diffraction by screens and apertures in three-dimensional space

We present a novel methodology for the numerical solution of problems of diffraction by infinitely thin screens in three-dimensional space. Our approach relies on new integral formulations as well as associated high-order quadrature rules. The new integral formulations involve weighted versions of the classical integral operators related to the thin-screen Dirichlet and Neumann problems as well as a generalization to the open-surface problem of the classical Calderón formulae. The high-order quadrature rules we introduce for these operators, in turn, resolve the multiple Green function and edge singularities (which occur at arbitrarily close distances from each other, and which include weakly singular as well as hypersingular kernels) and thus give rise to super-algebraically fast convergence as the discretization sizes are increased. When used in conjunction with Krylov-subspace linear algebra solvers such as GMRES, the resulting solvers produce results of high accuracy in small numbers of iterations for low and high frequencies alike. We demonstrate our methodology with a variety of numerical results for screen and aperture problems at high frequencies—including simulation of classical experiments such as the diffraction by a circular disc (featuring in particular the famous Poisson spot), evaluation of interference fringes resulting from diffraction across two nearby circular apertures, as well as solution of problems of scattering by more complex geometries consisting of multiple scatterers and cavities.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Collaborating CPU and GPU for large-scale high-order CFD simulations with complex grids on the TianHe-1A supercomputer

Programming and optimizing complex, real-world CFD codes on current many-core accelerated HPC systems is very challenging, especially when collaborating CPUs and accelerators to fully tap the potential of heterogeneous systems. In this paper, with a tri-level hybrid and heterogeneous programming model using MPI + OpenMP + CUDA, we port and optimize our high-order multi-block structured CFD software HOSTA on the GPU-accelerated TianHe-1A supercomputer. HOSTA adopts two self-developed high-order compact definite difference schemes WCNS and HDCS that can simulate flows with complex geometries. We present a dual-level parallelization scheme for efficient multi-block computation on GPUs and perform particular kernel optimizations for high-order CFD schemes. The GPU-only approach achieves a speedup of about 1.3 when comparing one Tesla M2050 GPU with two Xeon X5670 CPUs. To achieve a greater speedup, we collaborate CPU and GPU for HOSTA instead of using a naive GPU-only approach. We present a novel scheme to balance the loads between the store-poor GPU and the store-rich CPU. Taking CPU and GPU load balance into account, we improve the maximum simulation problem size per TianHe-1A node for HOSTA by 2.3×, meanwhile the collaborative approach can improve the performance by around 45% compared to the GPU-only approach. Further, to scale HOSTA on TianHe-1A, we propose a gather/scatter optimization to minimize PCI-e data transfer times for ghost and singularity data of 3D grid blocks, and overlap the collaborative computation and communication as far as possible using some advanced CUDA and MPI features. Scalability tests show that HOSTA can achieve a parallel efficiency of above 60% on 1024 TianHe-1A nodes. With our method, we have successfully simulated an EET high-lift airfoil configuration containing 800M cells and China's large civil airplane configuration containing 150M cells. To our best knowledge, those are the largest-scale CPU–GPU collaborative simulations that solve realistic CFD problems with both complex configurations and high-order schemes.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Higher-order finite-difference formulation of periodic Orbital-free Density Functional Theory

We present a real-space formulation and higher-order finite-difference implementation of periodic Orbital-free Density Functional Theory (OF-DFT). Specifically, utilizing a local reformulation of the electrostatic and kernel terms, we develop a generalized framework for performing OF-DFT simulations with different variants of the electronic kinetic energy. In particular, we propose a self-consistent field (SCF) type fixed-point method for calculations involving linear-response kinetic energy functionals. In this framework, evaluation of both the electronic ground-state and forces on the nuclei are amenable to computations that scale linearly with the number of atoms. We develop a parallel implementation of this formulation using the finite-difference discretization. We demonstrate that higher-order finite-differences can achieve relatively large convergence rates with respect to mesh-size in both the energies and forces. Additionally, we establish that the fixed-point iteration converges rapidly, and that it can be further accelerated using extrapolation techniques like Anderson's mixing. We validate the accuracy of the results by comparing the energies and forces with plane-wave methods for selected examples, including the vacancy formation energy in Aluminum. Overall, the suitability of the proposed formulation for scalable high performance computing makes it an attractive choice for large-scale OF-DFT calculations consisting of thousands of atoms.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

A fast band–Krylov eigensolver for macromolecular functional motion simulation on multicore architectures and graphics processors

We introduce a new iterative Krylov subspace-based eigensolver for the simulation of macromolecular motions on desktop multithreaded platforms equipped with multicore processors and, possibly, a graphics accelerator (GPU). The method consists of two stages, with the original problem first reduced into a simpler band-structured form by means of a high-performance compute-intensive procedure. This is followed by a memory-intensive but low-cost Krylov iteration, which is off-loaded to be computed on the GPU by means of an efficient data-parallel kernel. The experimental results reveal the performance of the new eigensolver. Concretely, when applied to the simulation of macromolecules with a few thousands degrees of freedom and the number of eigenpairs to be computed is small to moderate, the new solver outperforms other methods implemented as part of high-performance numerical linear algebra packages for multithreaded architectures.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

A biorthogonal decomposition for the identification and simulation of non-stationary and non-Gaussian random fields

In this paper, a new method for the identification and simulation of non-Gaussian and non-stationary stochastic fields given a database is proposed. It is based on two successive biorthogonal decompositions aiming at representing spatio–temporal stochastic fields. The proposed double expansion allows to build the model even in the case of large-size problems by separating the time, space and random parts of the field. A Gaussian kernel estimator is used to simulate the high dimensional set of random variables appearing in the decomposition. The capability of the method to reproduce the non-stationary and non-Gaussian features of random phenomena is illustrated by applications to earthquakes (seismic ground motion) and sea states (wave heights).

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

A stochastic Galerkin method for the Boltzmann equation with uncertainty

We develop a stochastic Galerkin method for the Boltzmann equation with uncertainty. The method is based on the generalized polynomial chaos (gPC) approximation in the stochastic Galerkin framework, and can handle random inputs from collision kernel, initial data or boundary data. We show that a simple singular value decomposition of gPC related coefficients combined with the fast Fourier-spectral method (in velocity space) allows one to compute the high-dimensional collision operator very efficiently. In the spatially homogeneous case, we first prove that the analytical solution preserves the regularity of the initial data in the random space, and then use it to establish the spectral accuracy of the proposed stochastic Galerkin method. Several numerical examples are presented to illustrate the validity of the proposed scheme.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Data-driven probability concentration and sampling on manifold

A new methodology is proposed for generating realizations of a random vector with values in a finite-dimensional Euclidean space that are statistically consistent with a dataset of observations of this vector. The probability distribution of this random vector, while a priori not known, is presumed to be concentrated on an unknown subset of the Euclidean space. A random matrix is introduced whose columns are independent copies of the random vector and for which the number of columns is the number of data points in the dataset. The approach is based on the use of (i) the multidimensional kernel-density estimation method for estimating the probability distribution of the random matrix, (ii) a MCMC method for generating realizations for the random matrix, (iii) the diffusion-maps approach for discovering and characterizing the geometry and the structure of the dataset, and (iv) a reduced-order representation of the random matrix, which is constructed using the diffusion-maps vectors associated with the first eigenvalues of the transition matrix relative to the given dataset. The convergence aspects of the proposed methodology are analyzed and a numerical validation is explored through three applications of increasing complexity. The proposed method is found to be robust to noise levels and data complexity as well as to the intrinsic dimension of data and the size of experimental datasets. Both the methodology and the underlying mathematical framework presented in this paper contribute new capabilities and perspectives at the interface of uncertainty quantification, statistical data analysis, stochastic modeling and associated statistical inverse problems.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

The construction of arbitrary order ERKN methods based on group theory for solving oscillatory Hamiltonian systems with applications

In general, extended Runge–Kutta–Nyström (ERKN) methods are more effective than traditional Runge–Kutta–Nyström (RKN) methods in dealing with oscillatory Hamiltonian systems. However, the theoretical analysis for ERKN methods, such as the order conditions, the symplectic conditions and the symmetric conditions, becomes much more complicated than that for RKN methods. Therefore, it is a bottleneck to construct high-order ERKN methods efficiently. In this paper, we first establish the ERKN group Ω for ERKN methods and the RKN group G for RKN methods, respectively. We then rigorously show that ERKN methods are a natural extension of RKN methods, that is, there exists an epimorphism η of the ERKN group Ω onto the RKN group G. This epimorphism gives a global insight into the structure of the ERKN group by the analysis of its kernel and the corresponding RKN group G. Meanwhile, we establish a particular mapping φ of G into Ω so that each image element is an ideal representative element of the congruence class in Ω. Furthermore, an elementary theoretical analysis shows that this map φ can preserve many structure-preserving properties, such as the order, the symmetry and the symplecticity. From the epimorphism η together with its section φ, we may gain knowledge about the structure of the ERKN group Ω via the RKN group G. In light of the theoretical analysis of this paper, we obtain high-order structure-preserving ERKN methods in an effective way for solving oscillatory Hamiltonian systems. Numerical experiments are carried out and the results are very promising, which strongly support our theoretical analysis presented in this paper.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

High-performance implementation of Chebyshev filter diagonalization for interior eigenvalue computations

We study Chebyshev filter diagonalization as a tool for the computation of many interior eigenvalues of very large sparse symmetric matrices. In this technique the subspace projection onto the target space of wanted eigenvectors is approximated with filter polynomials obtained from Chebyshev expansions of window functions. After the discussion of the conceptual foundations of Chebyshev filter diagonalization we analyze the impact of the choice of the damping kernel, search space size, and filter polynomial degree on the computational accuracy and effort, before we describe the necessary steps towards a parallel high-performance implementation. Because Chebyshev filter diagonalization avoids the need for matrix inversion it can deal with matrices and problem sizes that are presently not accessible with rational function methods based on direct or iterative linear solvers. To demonstrate the potential of Chebyshev filter diagonalization for large-scale problems of this kind we include as an example the computation of the 10{sup 2} innermost eigenpairs of a topological insulator matrix with dimension 10{sup 9} derived from quantum physics applications.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Density estimation techniques for multiscale coupling of kinetic models of the plasma material interface

In this work we analyze two classes of Density-Estimation techniques which can be used to consistently couple different kinetic models of the plasma-material interface, intended as the region of plasma immediately interacting with the first surface layers of a material wall. In particular, we handle the general problem of interfacing a continuum multi-species Vlasov-Poisson-BGK plasma model to discrete surface erosion models. The continuum model solves for the energy-angle distributions of the particles striking the surface, which are then driving the surface response. A modification to the classical Binary-Collision Approximation (BCA) method is here utilized as a prototype discrete model of the surface, to provide boundary conditions and impurity distributions representative of the material behavior during plasma irradiation. The numerical tests revealed the superior convergence properties of Gaussian Mixture Models over Kernel Density Estimation methods, with Gaussian Mixtures and Epanechnikov-KDEs both being up to two orders of magnitude faster than Gaussian-KDEs. The methodology here presented allows a self-consistent treatment of the plasma-material interface in magnetic fusion devices, including both the near-surface plasma (plasma sheath and presheath) in magnetized conditions, and surface effects such as sputtering, back-scattering, and ion implantation. The same coupling techniques can also be utilized for other discrete material models such as Molecular Dynamics.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Estimation of distributions via multilevel Monte Carlo with stratified sampling

We design and implement a novel algorithm for computing a multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) estimator of the joint cumulative distribution function (CDF) of a vector-valued quantity of interest in problems with random input parameters and initial conditions. Our approach combines MLMC with stratified sampling of the input sample space by replacing standard Monte Carlo at each level with stratified Monte Carlo initialized with proportionally allocated samples. We show that the resulting stratified MLMC (sMLMC) algorithm is more efficient than its standard MLMC counterpart due to the additional variance reduction provided by the stratification of the random parameter's domain, especially at the coarsest levels. Additional computational cost savings are obtained by smoothing the indicator function with a Gaussian kernel, which proves to be an efficient and robust alternative to recently developed polynomial-based techniques.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Efficient screening of rare large pit anomalies on polished surfaces using a minimalist sampling scheme

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has made significant strides in generating clean energy through its inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. These experiments rely on high-density carbon (HDC) coated shells to encapsulate the fusion fuel. The success of these experiments is heavily dependent on the surface quality of these shells, as even minor imperfections, such as deep pits, can negatively impact fusion yield. Ensuring the required smoothness involves an extensive surface-finishing process that spans approximately 20 stages, making it both time-intensive and resource-demanding. A critical challenge in this process is the need for high-resolution scans to detect rare deep pits, which can be costly and impractical if performed on every shell. This highlights the necessity of developing more efficient scanning methods to optimize time and cost without compromising accuracy. To address these challenges, we introduce a novel approach that employs the multivariate Dvoretzky–Kiefer–Wolfowitz (DKW) inequality to provide a probabilistic upper bound on the error in estimating pit distribution characteristics via a Kernel Density Estimator (KDE). This error bound enables efficient and reliable estimation of pit distribution characteristics at a specified statistical confidence level using a minimal number of surface scans. The integrated DKW-KDE approach was validated through surface-finishing experiments across two batches of HDC-coated shells, demonstrating consistent and robust performance across multiple stages of the surface-finishing experiments. The validation studies suggest that the integrated DKW-KDE approach achieves comparable accuracy in estimating the risk of deleterious large pits with six scans, thus conserving time and resources. Further evaluations show that performance remains consistent across batches and over multiple polishing stages. In conclusion, based on these findings, one can leverage the minimal-scan insights to strategically improve the bottleneck inspection process, thus enhancing the productivity and quality of shell polishing and similar challenging manufacturing processes.

Inertial confinement fusion↗

Thermal stability of bimodal microstructure in magnesium alloy AZ91 processed by ECAP

The changes in microstructure of equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) processed magnesium alloy AZ91 during thermal exposure were studied in this paper. The microstructure stability was investigated by means of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), which allowed to measure the changes in grain size, mutual ratio of low-angle boundaries (LABs) to high-angle ones (HABs) and local lattice distortion evaluated by the kernel average misorientation (KAM) parameter. It was found experimentally that the threshold temperature at which significant grain coarsening takes place is 350 °C. No modification to mean grain diameter occurs below this temperature, nonetheless, some changes in LAB and HAB fraction, as well as in local lattice distortion, can be observed. - Highlights: • Thermal stability of bimodal UFG AZ91 alloy was assessed by means of EBSD. • Threshold temperature for pronounced grain coarsening was found at 350 °C. • Below 350 °C increase in LAB fraction and local lattice distortion takes place. • Local lattice distortion (LLD) can be well described using KAM approach. • LLD is influenced by coarsening and precipitation of Mg{sub 17}Al{sub 12} particles.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Examining the microtexture evolution in a hole-edge punched into 780 MPa grade hot-rolled steel

The deformation behavior in the hole-edge of 780 MPa grade hot-rolled steel during the punching process was investigated via microstructure characterization and computational simulation. Microstructure characterization was conducted to observe the edges of punched holes through the thickness direction, and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) was used to analyze the heterogeneity of the deformation. Finite element analysis (FEA) that could account for a ductile fracture criterion was conducted to simulate the deformation and fracture behaviors of 780 MPa grade hot-rolled steel during the punching process. Calculation of rotation rate fields at the edges of the punched holes during the punching process revealed that metastable orientations in Euler space were confined to specific orientation groups. Rotation-rate fields effectively explained the stability of the initial texture components in the hole-edge region during the punching process. A visco-plastic self-consistent (VPSC) polycrystal model was used to calculate the microtexture evolution in the hole-edge region during the punching process. FEA revealed that the heterogeneous effective strain was closely related to the heterogeneity of the Kernel average misorientation (KAM) distribution in the hole-edge region. A simulation of the deformation microtexture evolution in the hole-edge region using a VPSC model was in good agreement with the experimental results. - Highlights: •We analyzed the microstructure in a hole-edge punched in HR 780HB steel. •Rotation rate fields revealed the stability of the initial texture components. •Heterogeneous effective stain was closely related to the KAM distribution. •VPSC model successfully simulated the deformation microtexture evolution.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗