Plasma physics code

Jeff Candy jcandy1 at san.rr.com
Thu Mar 8 22:29:30 PST 2001


Gang,

Often I read messages from list members asking about the 
availability of applications which can make use of the 
computing resources of a contemporary Beowulf cluster.  

We have a plasma turbulence code which is by now the state-
of-the-art in the MFE (magnetic fusion energy) program.
It was developed solely on Intel-Beowulf clusters, and 
runs around the clock on these clusters mostly in an 
attempt to break new "physics ground".  However, in this 
area of physics, the equations are sufficiently complex 
that even areas that are viewed by the community-at-large 
as "explored" are badly understood (IMO).  To this end, 
I wonder if anyone wants to devote spare cycles to a 
limited version of the solver (really, a very robust 
version of the solver with abiabatic electron physics).

The equations are the so-called "gyro-kinetic Maxwell" 
equations.  The solver is Eulerian.  The grid is five-
dimensional.  MPI is the MP library.  Meaningful runs 
will take on the order of days on a 32-64 processor cluster.  
Results are made into MPEG-1 movies, presented at 
conferences, etc.

I won't go into further detail -- if anyone is interested, 
please send email to:

             jeff.candy at gat.com

and we can discuss the conditions.  Some simulation MPEGs 
can be found at:

 http://fusion.gat.com/comp/parallel/GYRO_Gallery.html

Ciao,

J.





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