Cosmic microwave background data analysis with MADCAP

Realizing the extraordinary scientific potential of the CMB requires precise measurements of its tiny anisotropies over a significant fraction of the sky at very high resolution. The analysis of the resulting datasets is a serious computational challenge. For current and anticipated datasets existing algorithms require terabytes of memory and hundreds of years of CPU time. We must therefore maximize our resources by moving to supercomputers, and minimize our requirements by algorithmic development. Here we will outline the nature of the challenge, present our current optimal algorithm, discuss its implementation as the Microwave Anisotropy Dataset Computational Analysis Package. A documented beta -release of MADCAP version 2.0 is publicly available at http://cfpa.berkeley.edu/similar to borrill/cmb/madcap.html.