State of the art of gyrokinetic and hybrid MHD-kinetic codes through non-linear benchmarking to study reactor relevant burning plasmas
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: After a brief introduction on present day simulation and modeling of burning plasmas in magnetically confined devices, the results of a non-linear benchmark are presented, undertaken among several state-of-the-art codes available to study the self-consistent interaction of an Energetic Particle (EP) population with shear Alfvén waves: HYMAGYC, MEGA, ORB5 and XTOR-K. The first two codes, HYMAGYC and MEGA, are hybrid codes: HYMAGYC is a MHD-Gyrokinetic code (the bulk plasma is represented by MHD equations, while the EP species is treated using the gyrokinetic formalism), while MEGA is an MHD-Drift-Kinetic code (the bulk plasma is represented by MHD equations, while the EP species is treated using the drift-kinetic formalism, with the possibility of an ad-hoc gyroaveraging); ORB5 is a global electromagnetic gyrokinetic code (both bulk and EP species are treated using the gyrokinetic formalism); XTOR-K is a non-linear kinetic-MHD code (the bulk plasma is described by a set of non-linear resistive two-fluid MHD equations, extended to include kinetic effects of multiple ion species with a fully kinetic PIC module). The equilibrium of the so-called NLED-AUG reference case, in its version with peaked off-axis EP density profile, has been used, while considering a $$|n|=1$$ | n | = 1 perturbation. This non-linear benchmark is the natural continuation of the linear benchmark already considered in the recent past, and represent a first-ever code comparison in the deep non-linear stage. In the present study fluid non-linearities are omitted, and the focus will be on comparing wave-particle interactions effects across codes. Characteristics of the non-linear saturation of the mode, self-consistent modification to the EP density profile and other features are compared among the considered codes. This brief review presents the state of the art of gyrokinetic and hybrid MHD-kinetic codes emerging as tools for studying reactor-relevant burning plasmas in realistic conditions.
Source: Reviews of Modern Plasma Physics
Institutions: National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, ENEA Frascati Research Centre, Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma I, Zhejiang University, Pôle Léonard de Vinci, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,590
Funders: National Science Foundation, EUROfusion, European Commission, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale, Grand Équipement National De Calcul Intensif, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Centro Svizzero di Calcolo Scientifico, Euratom Research and Training Programme, Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation
OpenAlex ID: W4414158336