Monte Carlo simulations of spin glass systems on the cell broadband engine

Abstract

We implement a Monte Carlo algorithm for spin glass systems and optimize for the Cell-BE processor, assessing the effectiveness of this architecture for state-of-the-art simulations. Recent developments in many-core processor architectures, like the IBM Cell BE seem to open new opportunities in this field, where computational requirements are so demanding that state-of-the-art simulations often use dedicated computing systems. We present our implementation, analyze results and compare performances with those of both commodity processors and dedicated systems. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.