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Main Authors: Afzal, Ayesha, Hager, Georg, Wellen, Gerhard
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02792
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author Afzal, Ayesha
Hager, Georg
Wellen, Gerhard
author_facet Afzal, Ayesha
Hager, Georg
Wellen, Gerhard
contents We propose a novel, lightweight, and physically inspired approach to modeling the dynamics of parallel distributed-memory programs. Inspired by the Kuramoto model, we represent MPI processes as coupled oscillators with topology-aware interactions, custom coupling potentials, and stochastic noise. The resulting system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations opens a path to modeling key performance phenomena of parallel programs, including synchronization, delay propagation and decay, bottlenecks, and self-desynchronization. This paper introduces interaction potentials to describe memory- and compute-bound workloads and employs multiple quantitative metrics -- such as an order parameter, synchronization entropy, phase gradients, and phase differences -- to evaluate phase coherence and disruption. We also investigate the role of local noise and show that moderate noise can accelerate resynchronization in scalable applications. Our simulations align qualitatively with MPI trace data, showing the potential of physics-informed abstractions to predict performance patterns, which offers a new perspective for performance modeling and software-hardware co-design in parallel computing.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_02792
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Exploring metrics for analyzing dynamic behavior in MPI programs via a coupled-oscillator model
Afzal, Ayesha
Hager, Georg
Wellen, Gerhard
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
Applied Physics
Computational Physics
We propose a novel, lightweight, and physically inspired approach to modeling the dynamics of parallel distributed-memory programs. Inspired by the Kuramoto model, we represent MPI processes as coupled oscillators with topology-aware interactions, custom coupling potentials, and stochastic noise. The resulting system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations opens a path to modeling key performance phenomena of parallel programs, including synchronization, delay propagation and decay, bottlenecks, and self-desynchronization. This paper introduces interaction potentials to describe memory- and compute-bound workloads and employs multiple quantitative metrics -- such as an order parameter, synchronization entropy, phase gradients, and phase differences -- to evaluate phase coherence and disruption. We also investigate the role of local noise and show that moderate noise can accelerate resynchronization in scalable applications. Our simulations align qualitatively with MPI trace data, showing the potential of physics-informed abstractions to predict performance patterns, which offers a new perspective for performance modeling and software-hardware co-design in parallel computing.
title Exploring metrics for analyzing dynamic behavior in MPI programs via a coupled-oscillator model
topic Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
Applied Physics
Computational Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02792