Cost of QCD simulations with nf = 2 dynamical Wilson fermions

Abstract

Cost estimates for simulations of full QCD with n f = 2 Wilson fermions by hybrid Monte Carlo are presented. The extrapolations are based on the average number of iterations, N it, of the iterative solver within the fermionic part of the HMC molecular dynamics, which is closely related to the minimal eigenvalue of M † M. The cost formula is determined as a product of the scaling functions of iterative solver and integrated autocorrelation time of 1/ N it as function of the inverse lattice pseudoscalar mass. Timings by SESAM/TχL allow to fix the pre-factor. It is demonstrated that a 2-flavor dynamical determination of light hadron masses with a statistical precision comparable to the corresponding quenched results from CP-PACS is the appropriate task for a 100 Tflops system.