Fast Calculation of the Lomb-Scargle Periodogram Using Graphics Processing Units
Abstract
I introduce a new code for fast calculation of the Lomb-Scargle periodogram, that leverages the computing power of graphics processing units (GPUs). After establishing a background to the newly emergent field of GPU computing, I discuss the code design and narrate key parts of its source. Benchmarking calculations indicate no significant differences in accuracy compared to an equivalent CPU-based code. However, the differences in performance are pronounced; running on a low-end GPU, the code can match 8 CPU cores, and on a high-end GPU it is faster by a factor approaching thirty. Applications of the code include analysis of long photometric time series obtained by ongoing satellite missions and upcoming ground-based monitoring facilities; and Monte-Carlo simulation of periodogram statistical properties.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1007.1658,
title = {Fast Calculation of the Lomb-Scargle Periodogram Using Graphics Processing Units},
author = {R. H. D. Townsend},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1007.1658},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Accepted by ApJ. Accompanying program source (updated since acceptance) can be downloaded from http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~townsend/resource/download/code/culsp.tar.gz