CLUSTEREASY: A program for lattice simulations of scalar fields in an expanding universe on parallel computing clusters

Abstract We describe an MPI C++ program that we have written and made available for calculating the evolution of interacting scalar fields in an expanding universe on parallel clusters. The program is a parallel programming extension of the simulation program LATTICEEASY. The ability to run these simulations on parallel clusters, however, greatly extends the range of scales and times that can be simulated. The program is particularly useful for the study of reheating and thermalization after inflation. The program and its full documentation are available on the Web at http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Physics/fstaff/gfelder/latticeeasy/ . In this paper we provide a brief overview of what the program does and what it is useful for. Program summary Program title: CLUSTEREASY Catalogue identifier: AEBJ_v1_0 Program summary URL: http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEBJ_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.html No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 7469 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 613 334 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: C++/MPI Computer: Cluster. Must have the library FFTW installed Operating system: Any RAM: Typically 4 MB to 1 GB per processor Classification: 1.9 External routines: A single-precision version of the FFTW library ( http://www.fftw.org/ ) must be available on the target machine. Nature of problem: After inflation the universe consisted of interacting fields in a high energy, nonthermal state [1]. The evolution of these fields cannot be described with standard approximation techniques such as linearization, kinetic theory, or Hartree expansion, and must thus be simulated numerically. Fortunately, the fields rapidly acquire large occupation numbers over a range of frequencies, so their evolution can be accurately modeled with classical field theory [2]. The specific fields and interactions relevant at these high energies are not known, so different models must be tested phenomenologically. In many cases, e.g., those involving symmetry breaking, the wide range of physical time and length scales in the problem requires parallel computing. Solution method: CLUSTEREASY solves the equations of motion for interacting scalar fields in an expanding universe. The user describes a particular theory by entering the field potential and its derivatives in a model file and the program then uses a staggered leapfrog method to evolve the field equations and Friedmann equation for the fields and the expansion of the universe. Different processors compute the evolution on subgrids defined by block decomposition, and the processors exchange edge data after each time step to allow for calculation of spatial derivatives. Restrictions: In its current form CLUSTEREASY only includes scalar fields and does not include metric perturbations. For 2D and 3D simulations the cluster must already have the (free) libraries FFTW installed. Additional comments: CLUSTEREASY is the parallel form of the program LATTICEEASY (AEAW_v1_0), Comp. Phys. Comm. 178 (2008) 929. Note: The default installation type for FFTW is double-precision so care must be taken to specify single-precision when running the “configure” file associated with the FFTW software package installation. Running time: The running time can range from minutes to weeks. References: [1] A.D. Linde, Particle Physics and Inflationary Cosmology, Harwood, Chur, Switzerland, 1990. [2] S. Khlebnikov, I. Tkachev, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77 (1996) 219, hep-ph/9603378 .