Parallel Computing and Order-N Methods

Abstract

Parallel computing will become increasingly important in the coming decade, its growth will be determined by the benefit obtained for the required recoding, which varies widely. The cost effectiveness of CMOS-RISC microprocessors will accelerate the growth of parallel computing by making more Unix processors available for parallel utilization. Algorithms well suited to the exploitation of the medium granularity of the parallel computers available in the 90s, can dramatically increase the utility of electronic-structure calculations for both science and materials engineering. This paper attempts to characterizx the forces that will determine the type of computers available to us in this decade and presents an example of the type of algorithm which is well suited to such computers.