A surprising number of physical systems problems are well suited to “embarrassingly parallel" computations which do not require complicated algorithms or specialized hardware. As faculty and students at small institutions, we are readily incorporating parallel computing in diverse levels of our curricula and are embracing the opportunity to utilize high performance computing to do cutting edge research. We describe three typical examples: spatiotemporal patterns of one-way coupled oscillators, ray-tracing in curved spacetime, and solar escape as a three-body problem.
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For complete instructions on installing Xgrid on Mac OS X, including the use of batch files instead of shell scripts for job submission, see ⟨www.wooster.edu/physics/cowcpp/Xgrid/⟩.
© 2008 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2008
American Association of Physics Teachers
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