Solving Triad Reduced Interactions for Drift Kinetic Equations

TL;DR

The paper introduces TRIDK, a Python code that efficiently simulates nonlinear electromagnetic interactions in magnetized plasma drift kinetic equations using a novel triad reduced interaction model with nested polyhedral shells.

Contribution

It presents a new computational approach employing nested icosahedra-dodecahedra shells for efficient simulation of nonlinear plasma dynamics in drift kinetic systems.

Findings

Efficient simulation of large-scale plasma interactions.

Captures essential nonlinear dynamics with reduced computational cost.

Facilitates analysis of linear and nonlinear interplay in plasma turbulence.

Abstract

We present the TRIDK code, which is written in Python, that solves Triad Reduced Interactions for a Drift Kinetic system of equations. The four-dimensional drift kinetic system of equations captures nonlinear electromagnetic (or electrostatic) interactions for a magnetized plasma at scales larger than the ion gyroradius. In the TRIDK code, the nonlinear interaction are modelled using a compound of nested icosahedra-dodecohedra shells in wave space, which allows to perform computationally efficient simulations over a large span of scales. This reduced approach captures essential nonlinear dynamics, while allowing parallel mixing in velocity space to take place. The intent is to offer a cost efficient way to probe the balance between linear and nonlinear dynamics, and analyse the interplay between linear Landau damping and turbulence.