Photon Propagation using GPUs by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

Abstract

IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a cubic kilometer neutrino detector located at the South Pole designed to detect high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. To thoroughly understand the detected neutrinos and their properties, the detector response to simulated signal and background has to be modeled using Monte Carlo techniques. An integral part of these studies are the optical properties of the ice the observatory is built into. The propagation of individual photons from particles produced by neutrino interactions in the ice can be greatly accelerated using graphics processing units (GPUs). In this paper, we will describe how we perform the photon propagation and create a global pool of GPU resources for both production and individual users.