MADCAP - The Microwave Anisotropy Dataset Computational Analysis Package

Abstract

Realizing the extraordinary scientific potential of the CMB requires precise measurements of its tiny anisotropies over a significant fraction of the sky at very high resolution. The analysis of the resulting datasets is a serious computational challenge. Existing algorithms require terabytes of memory and hundreds of years of CPU time. We must therefore both maximize our resources by moving to supercomputers and minimize our requirements by algorithmic development. Here we will outline the nature of the challenge, present our current optimal algorithm, and discuss its implementation as the MADCAP software package and application to data from the North American test flight of the joint Italian-U.S. BOOMERanG experiment on the Cray T3E at NERSC and CINECA. A documented beta-release of MADCAP is publicly available at http://cfpa.berkeley.edu/~borrill/cmb/madcap.html