$\texttt{GPUmonty}$: A GPU-accelerated relativistic Monte Carlo radiative transfer code

TL;DR

GPUmonty is a GPU-accelerated Monte Carlo radiative transfer code that significantly speeds up simulations for black hole observation modeling.

Contribution

It introduces a GPU-based implementation of a relativistic Monte Carlo code, achieving a 12x speedup over CPU versions and enabling faster astrophysical modeling.

Findings

Achieves 12x speedup on a single GPU compared to CPU implementation.

Maintains errors below 1% and follows expected Monte Carlo convergence.

Enables extensive parameter surveys for black hole observation analysis.

Abstract

We introduce $\texttt{GPUmonty}$, a CUDA/C-based Monte Carlo radiative transfer code accelerated using graphics processing units (GPUs). $\texttt{GPUmonty}$ derives from the CPU-based code $\texttt{grmonty}$ and offloads the most computationally expensive stages of the calculation -- superphoton generation, sampling, tracking, and scattering -- to the GPU. Whereas $\texttt{grmonty}$ handles photons sequentially, $\texttt{GPUmonty}$ processes large numbers of superphotons concurrently, leveraging the single-instruction, multiple-thread (SIMT) execution model of modern GPUs. Benchmarks demonstrate a speedup of about $12\times$ relative to the original CPU implementation on a single GPU, with runtime limited primarily by register pressure rather than compute or memory bandwidth saturation. We validate the implementation through analytic tests for a optically thin synchrotron sphere, as well as comparisons with $\texttt{igrmonty}$ for scattering synchrotron sphere and GRMHD simulation data. Relative errors remain below a percent level and convergence is consistent with the expected $N_{\rm s}^{-1/2}$ Monte Carlo scaling. By significantly reducing computational costs, GPUmonty enables the extensive parameter space surveys and faster spectra modeling required to interpret horizon-scale observations of supermassive black holes. $\texttt{GPUmonty}$ is publicly available under the GNU General Public License.