Python multiprocessing and shared variable

I'm not a python specialist, but I was able to write multiprocessor code that uses all my processors and cores on my PC. My code loads a very large array, about 1.6 GB, and I need to update the array in every process. Fortunately, the update consists of adding artificial stars to the image, and each process has a different set of image positions where artificial stars can be added.

The image is too large, and I can not create a new one every time I call the process. My solution was to create a variable in shared memory, and I save a lot of memory. For some reason, it works on 90% of the image, but there are regions where my code added random numbers to some of the positions that I sent before the processes. Is this related to how I create a shared variable? Are processes interfering with each other during the execution of my code?

Something strange is that when using one processor and one core, images are 100% perfect, and random numbers are not added to the image. Do you offer me a way to share a large array between multiple processes? Here is the relevant part of my code. Please read the line when I define the im_data variable.

import warnings
warnings.filterwarnings("ignore")

from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D
from matplotlib import cm
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import sys,os
import subprocess
import numpy as np
import time
import cv2 as cv
import pyfits
from pyfits import getheader
import multiprocessing, Queue
import ctypes

class Worker(multiprocessing.Process):


def __init__(self, work_queue, result_queue):

    # base class initialization
    multiprocessing.Process.__init__(self)

    # job management stuff
    self.work_queue = work_queue
    self.result_queue = result_queue
    self.kill_received = False

def run(self):
    while not self.kill_received:

        # get a task
        try:
            i_range, psf_file = self.work_queue.get_nowait()
        except Queue.Empty:
            break

        # the actual processing
        print "Adding artificial stars - index range=", i_range

        radius=16
        x_c,y_c=( (psf_size[1]-1)/2, (psf_size[2]-1)/2 )
        x,y=np.meshgrid(np.arange(psf_size[1])-x_c,np.arange(psf_size[2])-y_c)
        distance = np.sqrt(x**2 + y**2)

        for i in range(i_range[0],i_range[1]):
            psf_xy=np.zeros(psf_size[1:3], dtype=float)
            j=0
            for i_order in range(psf_order+1):
                j_order=0
                while (i_order+j_order < psf_order+1):
                    psf_xy += psf_data[j,:,:] * ((mock_y[i]-psf_offset[1])/psf_scale[1])**i_order * ((mock_x[i]-psf_offset[0])/psf_scale[0])**j_order
                    j_order+=1
                    j+=1


            psf_factor=10.**( (30.-mock_mag[i])/2.5)/np.sum(psf_xy)
            psf_xy *= psf_factor

            npsf_xy=cv.resize(psf_xy,(npsf_size[0],npsf_size[1]),interpolation=cv.INTER_LANCZOS4)
            npsf_factor=10.**( (30.-mock_mag[i])/2.5)/np.sum(npsf_xy)
            npsf_xy *= npsf_factor

            im_rangex=[max(mock_x[i]-npsf_size[1]/2,0), min(mock_x[i]-npsf_size[1]/2+npsf_size[1], im_size[1])]
            im_rangey=[max(mock_y[i]-npsf_size[0]/2,0), min(mock_y[i]-npsf_size[0]/2+npsf_size[0], im_size[0])]
            npsf_rangex=[max(-1*(mock_x[i]-npsf_size[1]/2),0), min(-1*(mock_x[i]-npsf_size[1]/2-im_size[1]),npsf_size[1])]
            npsf_rangey=[max(-1*(mock_y[i]-npsf_size[0]/2),0), min(-1*(mock_y[i]-npsf_size[0]/2-im_size[0]),npsf_size[0])]

            im_data[im_rangey[0]:im_rangey[1], im_rangex[0]:im_rangex[1]] = 10.


        self.result_queue.put(id)

if __name__ == "__main__":

  n_cpu=2
  n_core=6
  n_processes=n_cpu*n_core*1
  input_mock_file=sys.argv[1]

  print "Reading file ", im_file[i]
  hdu=pyfits.open(im_file[i])
  data=hdu[0].data
  im_size=data.shape

  im_data_base = multiprocessing.Array(ctypes.c_float, im_size[0]*im_size[1])
  im_data = np.ctypeslib.as_array(im_data_base.get_obj())
  im_data = im_data.reshape(im_size[0], im_size[1])
  im_data[:] = data
  data=0
  assert im_data.base.base is im_data_base.get_obj()

  # run
  # load up work queue
  tic=time.time()
  j_step=np.int(np.ceil( mock_n*1./n_processes ))
  j_range=range(0,mock_n,j_step)
  j_range.append(mock_n)


  work_queue = multiprocessing.Queue()
  for j in range(np.size(j_range)-1):
    if work_queue.full():
      print "Oh no! Queue is full after only %d iterations" % j
    work_queue.put( (j_range[j:j+2], psf_file[i]) )

  # create a queue to pass to workers to store the results
  result_queue = multiprocessing.Queue()

  # spawn workers
  for j in range(n_processes):
    worker = Worker(work_queue, result_queue)
    worker.start()

  # collect the results off the queue
  while not work_queue.empty():
    result_queue.get()

  print "Writing file ", mock_im_file[i]
  hdu[0].data=im_data
  hdu.writeto(mock_im_file[i])
  print "%f s for parallel computation." % (time.time() - tic)