Gyrokinetic particle simulation on massively parallel computers: A computational tokamak for fusion research

One of the most challenging problems in tokamak fusion research is the identification of the mechanism(s) responsible for the particle and heat loss across the confining magnetic field, known as anomalous transport. Although great strides have been made over the past forty years in understanding the behavior of magnetically-confined plasmas, the transport issue remains largely unresolved. With the recent advances in plasma modeling using particle simulation techniques and the availability of the massively parallel computers, the authors are now in a position to initiate a comprehensive study of this important problem. In doing so, they hope that a reliable scaling law will emerge, which can give them a better projection of the ignition margin for the future tokamaks, such as ITER (International Tokamak Engineering Reactor) and BPX (Burning Plasma Experiment), and, in turn, can bring fusion energy a step closer to reality